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AUTHOR: 


DIOGO  DA 

ANNUNCIACAO 


TITLE: 


THE  INQUISITION  AND 
JUDAISM.  A  SERMON. 

PLACE: 

PHILADELPHIA 

DA  TE : 

[1 859] 


COLUMBIA  UNIVEI^ITY  LIBRARIES 
PRESERVATION  DEPARTMENT 

BIBLIOGRAPHIC  MICROFORM  TARGET 


Master  Negative  # 

^-jiMV.-l. 


Original  Material  as  Filmed  -  Existing  Bibliographic  Record 


933.1 
D6233 


Diogo  da  Annunoia^ao,   abp.   of  Cranganor, 

d.    1713. 

The   inquisition  and  Judaism.     A  sormon  ad- 
dressed to  Jov;ish  rxirtyrs,    on  *the   occasion  of 
an  auto  da  fe  at  Lisbon,    1705.     By  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Crang^anor;  also  a  reply  to  the   ser- 
mon,  by  Carlos  Vero.     Tr.   by  Moses  Mocatta. 
Philadelphia,    Barnard,    5620    (1859j 

XV,    221  p. 


Restrictions  on  Use: 


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tntI)fCitpofSmg0rk 

THE  LIBRARIES 


Presented  by 
Mrs.  Emma  Gottlifil  in  memory  of  her  husband 

RICHARD  JAMES  HORATIO  GOTTHEIL 

1S62—  1936 

A.B..  1881.  Columbia,    Ph.D..  188fi.  Leipzig, 
Litt.D..  1929.  D.H.L..  1933 

Professor  of  Semitic  LinRuages  and  Rabbinical  IJterature. 
Columbia,  1887-1936 


tL.,Uft^,l^ij^'^  h^k^././/-/ 


TUB 


INQUISITION  AND  JUDAISM. 


A  SERMON 


ADDRESSED  TO 


JEWISH  MARTYES, 

ON  THE  OCCASION  OF  AN  AUTO  DA  FE  AT  LISBON,  17 


DT 


THE  ARCHBISHOr  OF  CRANGAXOl!: 


ALSO 


A  REPLY  TO  THE  SERMON, 


BT 


CAKLOS  VEllO. 


TRA!«SL\TED  BT 

MOSES  MOCATTA 


rHILAr.ELPIIlA: 

BARNARD  k  TONSS,  IRINTERS,  RIDGWAY  BUILDINGS, 

No.  jlO  Minor  Str?it. 

6020. 


n  0  2 


.•  •     •  .  • .  : 
•  •• .  . 


NOTE. 

AVk  think  that  we  render  a  service  to  the  cause  of  Ju- 
Jtiisni  by  reprinting  this  controversial  work  which  we  re- 
ceived some  years  ago  from  the  late  Moses  Mocatta,  and 
which  he  had  translated  from  the  rortugucse.  Mr.  M. 
printed  all  his  works  for  private  distribution,  and  this  one 
has,  therefore,  like  the  others,  never  been  accessible  to 
the  public. 

We  would  observe,  that  Mr.  M.  belonged  to  the  Brit- 
ish Jews'  congregation  who  do  not  regard  rabbinical  au- 
thority as  binding.  Hence  his  allusion  in  the  Preface 
which  is  not  very  complimentary  to  our  old  teachers. 

Should  the  sale  of  this  tract  be  such  as  to  demonstrate 
that  such  books  will  be  acceptable  to  a  large  class  of  read- 
ers, we  may  then  be  induced  to  issue  some  others  which 
ought  to  become  more  generally  diflused.  I.  L. 

Philadelphia,  August,  5620. 


1  ■ 
I   > 


•    •  • 

■  *  • 


INTRODUCTION. 

In  tho  following  pages  will  bo  found  a  ser- 
mon delivered  by  the  Archbishop  of  Cranganor 
to  a  number  of  Israelites,  hapless  victims  of  tho 
Inquisition,  preparatory  to  the  unhallowed  cele- 
bration of  an  auto  da  fe.     Of  the  unfortunate 
beings  compelled  to  listen  to  tho  archbishop,  a 
majority  were  under  sentence  of  making  their 
selection  between  apostacy  and  death,  and  one 
amongst  tho  number,  having  offended  a  second 
time  against  tho  Inquisition,  is,  agreeably  to  all 
inference,  irrevocably  condemned  to  perish  by 
the  flames.   And  ^-et  it  is  before  such  defenceless 
creatures,  whoso  tongues  are  bridled,  that  tho 
prelate  effects  a  vast  display  of  erudition;  it  is 
such  unhappy  men  whom  he  assails  with  a  ver- 
bose and  diffuse  harangue,  professing  to  enter 
into  a  free  and  fair  discussion  on  tho  merits  of 
tho  respective  creeds  of  Judaism  and  Christian- 
ity! 

Such  a  flagrant  outrage  on  tho  unalienable 
rights  of  conscience— such  a  solemn  farce,  en- 
acted in  tho  name  and  under  the  assumed  sane- 
tion  of  tho  God  of  mercy  and  love— cannot  fail 
to  awaken  in  every  humane  and  thinking  mind 
sentiments  of  abhorrence  and  disgust.  Painful 
as  tho  records  of  such  acts  must  be,  still  wo  may 

A* 


VI 


INTBODUCTION. 


derive  a  soothing  consolation  from  the  fact  that 
the  Satanic  tribunal  of  Torquemado,  every  page 
of  whose  history  is  inscribed  in  blood,  has  long 
ceased  to  be  tolerated  by  every  civilized  nation 
throughout  the  globe.  Though  the  times  in 
which  our  lives  are  cast  boar  the  impress  of  a 
more  humane  and  enlightened  spirit,  and  render 
impracticable  the  barbarous  deeds  of  the  mcdia)- 
val  ages ;  we  have  nevertheless  to  deplore  that 
the  privileges  of  conscience  are  not  yet  respect- 
ed, and  that  the  morbid  craving  for  apostatizing 
still  continues  to  mar  domestic  and  social  peace, 
and  to  keep  alive  the  flame  of  civil  and  sectarian 
strife  which  ought  long  since  to  have  been  ex- 
tinguished. 

In  many  parts  of  the  Old  and  New  World,  but 
more  especially  in  Great  Britain,  the  conversion 
of  the  Jews  has  become  an  organized  system. — 
Here,  societies  and  branch  societies  are  formed, 
schools  are  established  for  infants  and  adults,  and 
enormous  sums  are  annually  placed  at  the  dis- 
posal of  mercenary  agents  to  further  what  the 
maudlin  fanaticism  of  the  day  calls  "the  good 
cause."  It  might  bo  imagined  that  with  all  this 
formidable  apparatus,  added  to  the  efforts  of  a 
regiment  of  missionaries  in  no  way  scrupulous 
as  to  the  means  they  employ  to  accomplish  their 
unrighteous  object,  that  every  year  would  bring 
an  overwhelming  number  of  Jews  to  the  baptis- 
mal font.    Nothing,  however,  can  be  more  con- 


INTRODUCTION. 


vu 


trary  to  the  fact;  for  if  we  are  to  give  credence 
to  the  printed  reports  of  the  conversionists  (and 
most  anxious  must  they  be  to  make  some  show 
in  return  for  the  treasure  poured  into  their  cof- 
fers), eighteen,  or,  at  most,  nineteen  is  the  yearly 
average  of  Jewish  souls  that  can  be  brought  up 
for  the  society  in  the  several  districts  of  their 
missionary  stations. 

On  inquiring  into  the  true  motives  that  can 
possibly  induce  Israelites  to  renounce  the  faith 
of  their  fathers,  we  cannot  divest  ourselves  of 
the  suspicion  that  a  craving  for  mundane  honors, 
and  an  unruly  ambition  upon  which  religious  sen- 
timent holds  no  check,  may  have  great  weight 
with  some  men,  and  may  lead  them  to  prefer 
the  momentary  gratification  which  the  parade 
and  circumstance  of  power  confers,  to  the  favor 
of  the  Supreme  Being  and  the  approbation  of 
conscience.  To  attempt  to  argue  with  such  un- 
principled  men,  if  such  there  be,  would  be  utter- 
ly hopeless;  for  little  can  the  words  of  mortals 
avail  who  are  deaf  to  the  voice  of  God  and  reck- 
less of  their  eternal  bliss. 

Others,  again,  there  are,  whose  abject  poverty 
renders  them  obnoxious  to  the  pecuniary  bait 
held  out  by  the  wily  agents  of  the  "Society."-— 
We  are  hardly  prepared  to  suggest  a  remedy  in 
this  case,  indisposed  as  we  are  to  attempt  to 
bind  men  to  their  creed  by  mere  worldly  consid- 
erations :  yet  would  we  venture  to  urge  on  the 


via 


INTllODUCTION, 


consideration  of  the  more  opulent  members  of 
our  community  the  absolute  necessity  of  taking 
a  deep  and  lively  interest  in  the  condition  of 
their  poorer  brethren,  of  ascertaining  their  men- 
tal and  physical  wants,  and  of  endeavoring  to 
protect  them,  as  far  as  may  be  practicable,  from 
the  demoralizing  influence  of  those  who  traffic 
in  conscience. 

There  is,  however,  another  class  of  Israelites, 
neither  few  nor  unimportant,  who  are  deserving 
of  the  highest  consideration.  AVe  allude  to  the 
youths  of  both  sexes,  who,  for  want  of  that 
sound  religious  instruction  which  the  pulpit  of 
every  Synagogue  ought  to  provide,  but  which  at 
the  present  day  is  almost  entirely  neglected,  are 
left  to  their  own  resources,  and  are  thus  render- 
ed an  easy  prey  to  whoever  may  be  disposed  to 
steal  away  their  hearts.  Every  one  conversant 
-with  the  religious  training  of  Jewish  females 
must  be  impressed  with  the  lamentable  fact  that 
the  instruction  imparted  to  this  important  class 
of  the  community  is  fatally  deficient.  To  them 
the  Scriptures  in  the  orignal  Hebrew  are  as  a 
sealed  book :  their  sole  dependance  is  on  the  au- 
thorized Anglican  version,  which  every  Hebraist 
must  be  aware,  is  an  extremely  partial  transla- 
tion, often  at  war  with  the  obvious  grammatical 
sense  of  the  verse  and  of  the  context,  and  avow- 
edly, or  at  least  designedly,  undertaken  to  give 
a  coloring  to  a  system  unknown  to  Moses  and  to 


INTRODUCTION. 


IX 


ii 


the  succeeding  prophets,  and  therefore  subver- 
sive  of  the  teachings  of  the  genuine  Hebrew 
Scriptures.     These  unfair  and  perverted  transla- 
tions,  added  to  the  objectionable  and  totally  un- 
warranted headings  of  the  chapters,  often  per- 
plex  readers  of  tender  years,  and  fill  their  minds 
with  misgivings  and  doubts.     Confiding  in  what 
they  suppose  to  be  a  faithful,  accurate,  and  con- 
scientious rendering  of  the  Old  Testament,  and 
receiving  little  or  no  aid  from  their  own  clergy 
as  to  the  proper  exposition  of  the  Scriptures, 
they  either  regard  the  Bible  as  involving  mani- 
fest  contradictions,  and  so  degenerate  into  infi- 
delity, or  they  fall  into  the  snares  spread  for 
their  feet  by  the  mercenary  agents  of  the  con- 
verting societies.    It  is  for  this  class,  and  prin- 
cipally for  the  female  portion  of  this  class,  the 
future  wives  and  mothers  in  Israel,  who  must 
naturally  form   the  religious  principles  of  the 
coming  generation,  that  the  translator  of  the 
sermon  of  the  archbishop  and  of  its  refutation, 
has  imposed  on  himself  the  present  task. 

Whoever  has  noted  the  history  of  the  contro- 
versy between  the  "Converters"  and  the  disci- 
ples of  the  faith  of  Moses,  must  be  aware  that 
the  weapons  employed  have  been  invariably 
.taken  from  the  same  armory.  The  reader  will 
not,  therefore,  be  surprised  at  the  want  of  novel- 
ty  in  the  "proofs"  and  "arguments"  advanced 
by  the  "converters,"  from  the  prelate  of  Cran- 


l 


X  INTRODUCTION. 

ganor  downwards;  bnt  he  will  be  rejoiced  to  find 
that  the  able  reply  of  the  Israelites  (whom  either 
a  high  sense  of  modesty  or  more  probably,  a  fear 
of  persecution,  has  induced  to  conceal  his  name), 
strikes  at  the  root  of  all  the  positions  taken  up 
by  the  champion  of  Papacy,  and  proves  each  of 
his  arguments  to  be  inconsequent  and  unscrip- 
tural.     Every  book  of  the  Bible,  and  every  vol- 
ume recording  the  opinions  of  individual  Rab- 
bins, has  been  ransacked  by  the  coercing  baptis- 
ers  during  a  succession  of  centuries,  and  yet  they 
have  found  no  sharper  weapons  wherewith  to 
combat  the  pure  principles  of  Mosaism  than  those 
employed  by  the  Archbishop  of  Cranganor. 

The  reply,  therefore,  to  the  prelate  of  Lisbon, 
is  a  reply  to  the  whole  of  his  fraternity  who  have 
since  embarked  in  the  same  unjustifiable  warfare. 
Let,  then,  the  discerning  reader  make  himself 
familiar  with  the  sentiments  and  doctrines  of 
both  disputants :  let  him  study  the  sermon  and 
the  reply:  let  him  "look  on  this  picture  and  on 
that;"  then  let  him  compare  the  Jesuitical  so- 
phistry of  the  former  with  the  unimpassioned 
logic  of  the  latter;  and  it  may  reasonably  be  an- 
ticipated that  ho  will  cling  with  increased  fond- 
Bess  and  confidence  to  the  faith  of  his  fathers, 
and  that  he  will  live  and  die  a  disciple  of  Moscs,^ 
not  only  from  the  circumstance  of  birth,  habit, 
and  early  associations,  but  from  absolute  convic- 
tion induced  by  the  native  force  of  truth. 


INTRODUCTION. 


XI 


The  old  and  somewhat  curious  work  now  put 
forth,  having  made  its  way,  by  mere  chance,  to 
the  translator,  he  at  once  deemed  it  a  religious 
duty  to  give  it  an  English  attire,  and  to  secure 
for  it  a  ready  reception  amongst  the  youthful 
portion  of  his  Jewish  brethren,  by  presenting  it 
to  them  gratis.     It  is  to  be  regretted  that  some 
steps  in  the  same  direction  have  not  long  since 
been  taken  by  those  whoso  bounden  duty  it  is 
to  train  youth  in  religious  knowledge.     For  bet- 
ter would  it  have  been  for  the  moral  and  spirit- 
ual welfare  of  Israel,  if  the  Rabbins  of  other 
times  had  manifested  less  concern  for  every  tit- 
tle of  outward  ceremonies,  and  had  displayed 
more  earnestness  for  the  development  of  the  ex- 
alted principles  which  constitute  the  basis  and 
the  glory  of  the  Jewish  faith.     Had  they  but 
imitated  the  example  of  the  pjiino*  in  the  days 
of  Ezra,  had  they  stood  forth  like  him  to  ex- 
pound  the  law  in  the  vernacular  tongue,  instead 
of  spending  their  lives  in  subtle  speculations, 
and  in  fine  hair  drawn  disquisitions  which  exer- 
cise no   moral  or  religious  influence   over  the 
miuds  of  youth,  how  many  would,  even  at  the 
present  day,  be  worshipping  the  God  of  Israel 
as  an  absolute  Vniiy,  instead  of  bowing  at  the 
shrine  of  apostacy. 

The  translator  has  frankly  avowed  his  object 


4 


*The  Chaldee  for  interpreter. 


zu 


INTRODUCTION. 


in  introducing  the  following  work  to  the  notice 
of  the  youth  of  Israel— that  it  is  intended  to  for- 
tify them  in  the  principles  of  their  ancient  faith, 
and  to  protect  them  against  the  insidious  efforts 
of  the  missionaries.  To  this  faithful  declaration 
he  begs  to  add,  that  nothing  is  more  remote  from 
his  mind  and  more  alien  to  his  wishes  than  to 
interfere  with  the  religious  belief  of  his  Chris- 
tian brethren  and  compatriots.  A  genuine  Is- 
raelite is,  both  from  doctrine  and  feeling,  an  un- 
compromising friend  to  freedom  of  conscience. — 
Whilst  he  is  naturally  attached  to  his  own  faith, 
it  is  with  him  a  practical  doctrine  that  all  men 
of  all  creeds,  whose  lives  are  morally  good,  are 
equally  the  objects  of  the  Almighty's  love  and 
care,  and  that  they  will  all  participate  in  the 
blessings  of  life  everlasting.  Far  then  from  con- 
demning the  creeds  of  other  men,  the  Israelite 
respects  all  religious  systems,  however  they  may 
differ  from  his  own,  and  regards  them  as  the  se- 
veral means  by  which  men  are  rendered  useful, 
happy,  and  morally  good;  and  by  which  they 
are  brought  nearer  and  nearer  to  that  Great  Be- 
ing, "the  Rock,  whose  work  is  perfection."* 

Kever,  therefore,  will  the  Israelites  be  found 
attacking  the  faith  of  another;  but  if  he  is  com- 
pelled to  enter  the  lists  of  controversy,  it  is  on 
the  side  of  the  defence  that  his  banner  will  be 


*Deut.  xxxii.  4. 


INTRODUCTION. 


«  «  » 

Xlll 


unfurled,  and  there  he  will  be  seen  verifying  the 
impressive  scriptural  axiom.— 3)£3  n:3  in^'D  ^21  "a 
word  in  season,  how  good  is  it!"  In  an  admirable 
ittle  work  just  issued  from  the  press,  we  notice 
the  following  acute  and  judicious  remark:*    "So 
long  as  the  Christian  confines  his  arguments  and 
quotations  to  the  Kew  Testament,  the  Israelite 
feels  perfectly  secure,  from  his  entire  rejection  of 
such  authority  as  divine :  but  when  the  words  of 
the  Old  Testament  are  so  explained  as  to  bear 
most  startlingly  upon  the  creedof  our  adversaries, 
then  It  is  that  we  need  a  careful  but  perfectly 
simple  training  to  supply  us  with  reply  and  de- 
fence."     It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  work  now 
placed  in  the  hands  of  Jewish  youths,  will  supply 
the  desideratum  to  which  the  authoress  refers. 

The  writer  of  the  refutation  has  merely  con- 
fined  himself  to  the  compass  of  the  Archbishop  of 
Cranganor's  arguments;  and  the  scriptural  quota- 
tions which  he  has  adduced  in  support  are  con- 
sequently narrowed  to  that  prescribed  limit.  Let 
It  not,  therefore,  be  imagined  that  all  the  proofs 
w4uch  the  Bible  can  furnish  in  defence  of  Judaism 
are  exhausted  in  this  reply;  far  from  it,  since 
there  is  scarcely  a  chapter  of  the  book  of  Deuter- 
onomy, nor  a  book  of  the  prophets,  which  the 
writer  might  not  have  quoted  in  support  of  his 
defence,  had  it  been  necessary  to  his  purpose. 


*  Women  of  Israel,  by  Grace  Aguilar. 


iff 


B 


XIV 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  reader  may,  however,  repose  unlimited 
confidence  in  all  the  expositions  and  elucidations 
which  the  writer  of  the  "Keply"  has  put  forth. 
The  transhitor,  who,  during  more  than  half  a  cen- 
tury of  a  prolonged  life  devoted  to  the  study  of 
the  genuine  Hebrew  Scriptures,  and  to  every  con- 
troversial work  of  note  from  the  pen  of  Jews  and 
Christians,  has  carefully  examined  and  verified 
all  the  quotations  employed  by  the  writer  of  the 
'<Eeply,"and  has  found  them  to  be  fully  trust- 
worthy.    He  is  devoutly  thankful  to  Almighty 
God  for  having  vouchsafed  to  him  the  time  and 
the  opportunity  to  make  himself  thoroughly  ac- 
quainted with  the  idiom  of  the  original  text,  so 
that  his  heart  is  indelibly  impressed  with  the  sub- 
lime and  immortal  truths  of  Judaism. 

The  translator  w^ould  fain  offer  a  word  or  two, 
as  to  the  manner  in  which  he  has  endeavored  to 
perform  his  task.     In  order  to  render  impartial 
justice  to  both  disputants,  he  has  felt  it  right  even 
at  the  sacrifice  of  elegance  of  style  and  propriety 
of  expression,  to  give  a  faithful   literal  version 
both  of  the  Portuguese  homily  and  the  Spanishre- 
ply.     To  do  this  he  has  ventured  to  retain  all  the 
prolixity  and  tautology  of  the  *' Sermon,"  as  well 
as  much  of  the  quaintness  and  unevenness  of  style 
which  give  a  harshness  to  both  compositions.   If 
these  be  considered  blemishes,  the  judicious  read- 
er will  attribute  them  less  to  the  writers  them- 
selves than  to  the  age  in  which  they  flourished. 


INTRODUCTION. 


XV 


The  task  of  the  translator  is  now  at  an  end :  he 
has  only  to  offer  this  work  to  the  fiivorable  and 
attentive  consideration  of  his  readers,  and  to 
entreat  them  to  make  themselves  familiar  with 
the  Scriptures  in  the  original  Hebrew,  which 
knowledge  will  prove  to  them  a  valuable  blessing; 
finally,  he  conjures  every  son  and  daughter  of 
Israel  to  regard  as  the  Cynosure  that  is  to  guide 
them  through  life,  the  emphatic  exhortation  of 
Scripture: — 

"Unto  thee  it  was  shown  that  thou  mightest  be 
convinced  that  the  Eternal  He  is  God,  there  is 
none  besides  Him."  (Deut.  iv.  35.)  M.  M. 


I 


I 


SEMIOK 


OF 


THE  AUTO  DA  FE. 

CELKHRATED    IX    THE    PUBLIC    SQUARE    IX   THE    CITY    OF 

LLSBOX,    XEAR   THE   OFFICE   OF   THE   IXQULSITIOX, 

OX  THE  GtH  SEPTEMBER,   1705,  IX  THE  PRE- 

SEXCE   OF   THEIR   HIGHXESSES. 

PREACHED  BT 
THE  MOST  ILLUSTRIOUS  AXD  MOST  REVEREXD 

SENHOR  DON  DIEGO  ANNUNCIAZARO  JUSTINIANO, 

OXE  OF  THE  COUXCIL  OF  HIS  MAJESTY  (WHOM  UOD 

PRESERVE),  AXD  LATE  ARCHBISHOP  OF 

CRAXGAXOR. 


B 


I 


SERMON  AT  AN  AUTO  DA  FE, 

ETC. 


^'Ipsc  aiitem  populus  dircptus  et  vastatus;  laqueus 
juvenum  onmes,  et  in  domibus  carcerum  absconditi 
sunt;  facti  sunt  in  rapinum,nec  est  qui  eruat;  in 
direptionem,  7iec  est  qui  dicat:  Redde." 

Isaiah,  cap.  xlii.  22. 

Most  High  and  Mighty  Prince,  and  Lords. 

I. 
On:  degraded  remnants  of  Judaism,  unhappy 
fragments  of  the  Synagogue!  the  last  spoil  of  Ju- 
dea!  opprobrium  of  the  Catholics!  abhorrence 
and  laughing-stock  of  your  fellow  Jews,  it  is  to 
you  I  address  myself,  ye  misguided  men!  You 
are  the  abhorrence  and  laughing-stock  of  the 
Jews ;  for  your  ignorance  is  such  that  you  know 

not  how  to  observe  the  very  law  you  profess. 

You  are  the  opprobrium  of  the  Catholics;  for, 
being  born  within  the  pale  of  its  church,  your 
voluntary  apostacy  has  banished  you  from  its  bo- 
som; you  are  the  last  spoil  of  Judea,  for,  (to  our 
shame,)  your  lot  is  cast  here  in  Portugal  to  dis- 
grace and  scandalize  us  in  the  opinion  of  the  wholo 
world—in  our  quarter  of  the  globe  as  well  as  in 
your  native  East.    You  are  the  wretched  frag- 


4  SERMON   OF   JUSTINIANO, 

ments  of  Synagogue,  for  all  its  former  greatness 
is  come  to  an  end  in  your  present  misery.  Finally, 
you  are  a  degraded  remnant  of  Judaism,  the 
wretched  offshoots  of  Israel,  who,  since  the  de- 
struction of  your  country,  have  spread  through- 
out Europe  to  infect  whole  nations  by  your  pre- 
sence. 

II. 
You  are  a  people  whose  patience  has  never 
been  exhausted  by  long-protracted  hope,  to  whose 
minds  the  clearest  evidence  does  not  bring  con- 
viction, whom  the  severest  suffering  only  disposes 
the  more  inveterately  to  persist  in  your  obstinacy. 
Chastisement  that  softens  brutes,  only  makes  you 
more  stubborn.  Evidence  that  convinces  even 
fools,  only  renders  you  more  positive.  Hope 
that  wearies  the  spirit  of  others,  makes  you  more 
enduring.  You  have,  from  the  first,  been  deceived 
by  four  dotards,  who  have  taught  you  to  expect 
the  Messiah  after  Christ  had  come  into  the  world; 
so  that  instead  of  your  hopes  being  abandoned 
upon  that  event,  they  have  encouraged  you  to 
persevere  in  them,  and  to  cling  with  desperation 

to  your  faith. 

III. 
How  greatly  do  I  pity  your  degradation,  O 
children  of  Israel !  how  many  tears  of  blood  I 
shed  through  compassion  for  your  misfortunes, 
contemplating  what  you  are  at  this  day,  and 
what  you  formerly  ivere.    In  ancient  times,  the 


ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR.  5 

inheritors  of  that  affection  which  your  continued 
obstinacy  did  not  deserve;  this  day  the  objects 
of  well-merited  anger,  which  fulfils  in  you  a  just 
retribution;  this  day  the  scaffold  is  the  theatre 
of  your  contumely;  formerl}^,  your  tabernacles 
\yere  the   boast  of  your  religion.     In   ancient 
times,  the  waters  held  you  in  respect,  and  no 
less  the  flames;  this  day  fire  will  feed  on  you, 
and  your  ashes,  cast  into  the  sea,  will  find  a 
tomb   in   the  waters.     :N'ow,  everybody  shuns 
your  society;  anciently,  everybody  courted  your 
fricndshiji.      Anciently,   trumpets    sounded   the 
glory  you  reaped  from  the  observance  of  your 
law;  this  day  trumpets  proclaim  your  infamy  in 
the  superstitious  observance  (I  will  not  say  of 
an  expiring  law,  but)  of  a  law  actually  extinct. 
At  the  present  time,  to  be  a  Jew  is  considered  a 
reproach  in  every  country;  formerly,  to  be  a 
Jew  was  deemed  an  honor  throughout  the  world;' 
formerly,  your  tents  in  the  desert  were  dwell- 
ings wherein  Heaven  showered  upon  you  its  fa- 
vors;  now,   your  depopulated   habitations  are 
dwellings  wherein  the  fire  of  justice  reduces  you 
to  ashes.  This  day,  the  anniversary  of  your  feast 
of  Purim,  is  the  day  w^hen  you  are  to  abjure  and 
make  atonement  for  your  sins  in  the  yellow  and 
scarlet  colors  of  your  penitential  dresses— the 
emblems  of  the  fire  which  will  consume  your 
dwelling-places,  unless  these  dresses  be  changed 
for  another  color  before  being  committed  to  tho 


6 


SERMON   OF  JUSTINIANO, 


flames.  In  former  times,  on  the  day  of  atone- 
ment for  your  sins,  the  scarlet  thread  that  was 
bound  on  the  horns  of  the  goat  which  was  to  be 
sacrificed  on  that  day  was  changed  into  white, 
to  show  that  God  had  pardoned  your  sins.  In 
former  times,  your  inheritance  was  the  unalien- 
able property  of  your  families;  now,  the  public 
treasury  is  your  heir. 

It  is  more  than  sixteen  hundred  and  thirty- 
two  years  since  Titus  brought  destruction  upon 
you;  yet  are  you  still  lingering  in  bondage,  and 
God  only  knows  when  your  captivity  will  come 
to  an  end.    Formerly,  your  God  was  so  disposed 
to  have  mercy  on  your  sufferings  that  your  trou- 
bles never  lasted  more  that  a  few  years.     Thus, 
on  account  of  selling  Joseph  into  bondage,  which 
was  your  first  sin,  and  in  which  all  your  progeni- 
tors conspired,  you  were  punished  by  a  pilgrim- 
age in  Egypt  during  the  limited  period  of  ninety- 
one  years.     In  the  time  of  the  Judges,  the  dis- 
persion you  underwent  for  your  idolatries,  which 
formed  your  second  crime,  and  in  which  your 
ancestors  were  all  implicated,  ended  in  a  hun- 
dred and   eleven  years.     In  Babylon,  whither 
you  were  banished  for  having  murdered  your 
prophets,  your  captivity  ended  in  about  seventy 
years.    Such  was  the  extent  of  your  punishment 
"when  you  put  your  prophets  to  death,  worship- 
ped idols,  and  sold  the  innocent. 


y 


ARCHBISHOP   OF  CRANGANOR.  7 

ly. 

Truly,  O  children,  dear  to  my  soul !  the  con- 
dition in  which  you  are  at  tlic  present  day  com- 
pared with  wliat  you  were  in  times  past,  would 
soften  a  heart  fnv  less  obdurate  tban  mine;  for 
though  we  may  not  be  of  the  same  blood,  we  are 
all  your  brethren  through  the  blood  of  Jesu« 
Christ  who  redeemed  you,  and  through  the  holy 
water  of  baptisia,  wiierewith  3-ou^Lavc  been 
sprinkled. 

Truly,  O  unhappy  ra^M  this  change  should  in 
itself  be  sufficient  to  convert  fools:  how  much 
more  so  you  wiio  lK>a«t  of  ix^ssessiiig  knowledge? 
The  contemplation  of  what  you  once  were  and 
what  you  now  are,  should  sen^e  to  convert  you 
from  what  you  ai>e  to  what  you  ought  to  be; 
and  if  it  should  plea.se  the  God  of  Isi-ael,  our  God 
as  well  as  yours,  to  cause  you  to  roi>ent  this  day 
with  all  3'our  heart,  it  is  in  your  ix)wer,  by  mak- 
ing abjuration,  to  give  authentic  evidence  of  the 
fiinccrity  of  your  convei^ion.     Without  giving 
you  offence— for  my  wish  is  solely  to  convince 
you— I  shall  endeavor  to  show  you  your  error, 
and  so  undeceive  you  with  regaivd  to  your  tenets,' 
so  that,  if  you  are  reasonable  beings,  you  cannot 
fail  to  become  Catholics.     Unhappy  men  !  who, 
Ignorant  of  the  very  creed  you  pivofess,  mistake 
ridiculous  fomis  for  aets  of  religion,  how  I  could 
wish   that  all  your  teachers,  who  are  scattered 
over  the  world,  could  be  here  this  day  to  be  my 


# 


I 


8 


SERMON   OF  JUSTINIANO, 


hearers;  for  so  demonstratively  shall  I  destroy 
the  foundation  of  your  hopes,  that  you  would  be 
compelled,  by  their  judgment  as  well  as  your 
own,  to  become  of  the  number  of  the  faithful, 
however  obstinately  you  and  they  might  wish 
to  persist  in  remaining  Jews.  True  it  is,  that 
without  a  pious  disposition  of  the  will,  it  is  hard 
to  convince  the  understanding:  still,  so  forcible 
are  the  arguments  that  I  shall  this  day  submit 
to  your  attention,  that  they  cannot  fail  to  elicit 
from  your  judgnunt  a  conclusion  adverse  to  the 
falsehood  of  yours,  and  in  favor  of  the  truth  of 
our  faith. 

Y. 
In  order  that  the  demonstrations  I  may  give 
may  prove  of  sufHcient  efficacy  to  convince  you 
of  your  error,  I  shall  not  advance  any  theologi- 
cal arguments;  for  these  depend  on  principles 
which  either  are  unknown  to  you  through  igno- 
rance, or  will  be  rejected  by  your  stubborn  apos- 
tacy.  I  will  not  avail  myself  of  the  2s  ew  Testa- 
ment; for  your  creed  will  not  admit  the  suppo- 
sition, that  through  baptism  you  are  constrained 
to  believe  in  its  truth;  neither  will  1  attempt  to 
persuade  you  by  the  evidence  of  our  fathers,  as 
I  suppose  their  authority  will  be  held  in  suspi- 
cion by  your  incredulous  minds;  nor  Ity  the  ren- 
dering of  the  Old  Testament  according  to  our 
vulgate,  as  you  do  not  admit  that  to  be  canoni- 
cal; but  by  your  own  Hebrew  or  Chaldaic  ver- 


ARCnBISHOP   OF   CRANGANOR.  9 

sion,  which  you  hold  as  sacred  authority,  not 
admitting  of  doubt  or  controversy.  This  then 
will  be  the  text  from  which  I  shall  draw  all  my 
arguments.  The  expositions  of  your  Eabbins, 
on  whose  doctrines  you  ground  your  faith  as 
Jews,  wdl  be  added  in  corroboration.  Only  lis- 
ten  dispassionately  to  me,  and  you  will  find  that 
prejudice  must  yield  to  the  force  of  evidence. 

VI. 

The  prophet  Isaiah,  in  chapter  xlii.  of  his  pro- 
phecies,  saw  in  a  vision  the  wretched  state  into 
which  the  Jews,  on  account  of  their  sins,  would 
Ml  after  the  advent  of  Christ,  who  was  and  is 
the  true  Messiah  which  God  promised  to  the 
world  in  his  Scriptures,  and  left  them  a  warn- 
ing  against  their  delusion  in  these  words-  "/me 
autem  populus  direptus  et  vastatus;  laqueus  juve- 
mm  omnes,  et  in  domibus  carcerum  ahsconditi  sunt  • 
facti  sunt  in  rapinam,  nee  est  qui  eruat;  in  direp- 
tionem,  nee  est  qui  dicat:  Redded 

Know,  ye  unhappy  people  (says  the  prophet), 
know  that  after  the  coming  of  the  Messiah,  you 
will  be  a  dispetsed  nation  throughout  the  world 
and  bondsmen  in  every  land;  for  you  are  to  be 
a  ruided  and  scattered  people:  ^^Ipse  autem  popu- 
lus direptus  et  vastatus.'* 

The  small  remnants  of  your  former  greatness 
which  are  left  as  an  authentic  testimony  of  the 
chastisement  of  your  sins,  shall  form  a  net  that 

c 


I 


10 


SER5I0K  or  JUSTIMA^ay 


ARCHBISHOP  OP  CRANGANOR. 


11 


tvill,  with  a  sudden  motion,  draw  you  into  a  fear- 
ful  prison,  so  that  each  shall  be  talvcn  into  a  se- 
parate dungeon  and  immured  in  his  cell  with 
such  secrecy  that  no  one  shall  know  who  went 
in  yesterday,  and  the  one  who  is  taken  there  to- 
day shall  not  know  who  it  is  that  goes  in  to- 
morrow :  "7/1  domihus  carcerum  ahsconditi  sunt'' 

You  will  be  reduced  to  such  misery,  O  unfor- 
tunate  people!  that  your  nation  of  young  and 
old  will  be  quarrelling  with  one  another;  and 
you  will  form  a  net  for  your  mutual  distress  and 
entanglement:  ^^Laqiieus  juvenum  universitas  ipso- 
rum  vel  omnes  ipsi,"  says  your  Hebrew  text. 

Thus  conformably  to  the  prophecy,  you  con- 
found and  entangle  yourselves,  O  wretched  sons 
of  Israel,  whom  a  severe  imprisonment  awaits, 
which  you  have  no  means  of  averting;  for  Juda- 
ism being  the  crime  with  which  you  are  charged, 
your  involvement  is  such  that  no  aid  can  avail 
to  affect  your  liberation :  ''Facti  sunt  in  rapinamj 
nee  est  qui  eruat;  in  direptionevij  nee  est  qui  dicat: 

BeddeJ' 

YII. 
That  this  passage  in  Isaiah  contemplated  the 
punishment  that  the  Jews  are  now  suffering, 
your  own  experience  must  be  sufficient  to  con- 
vince you ;  for  you  yourselves  are  in  the  very 
condition  into  which  the  prophet  says  you  would 
fall  after  the  advent  of  the  Messiah.  You  your- 
selves see  how  you  are  dispersed  all  over  the 


world,  and  scattered  throughout  every  land;  and 
either  from  necessity  or  inclination  hold  your- 
selves apart  from  one  another,  so  that  even  if 
you  meet  privately  to  perform  the  rights  of  Ju- 
daism, you  avoid  each  other  in  public,  in  order 
to  deceive  those  who   charge  you  with   being 
Jews.     You  yourselves  bewail  your  misfortunes, 
and  complain  to  us  Catholics  that  your  enemies 
ensnare  you,  and  draw  you  so  suddenly  and  in- 
discriminately into  the  meshes  of  our  holy  office, 
that  all  of  your  lineage  are  exix)sed  to  the  same 
calamity;  and  although  you  mutually  proclaim 
your  afflictions  to  one  another,  thero  is  no  one 
who  has  the  power  to  rescue  you  therefrom.  All 
these  facts,  founded  upon  your  own  experience, 
fully  prove  that  the  prophet  alludes  to  you  in 
his  text.     If  it  be  possible  to  suppose  that  this 
argument  is  not  sufficient  to  establish  the  point, 
the  evidence  of  your  own  Rabbi  Samuel  will 
sei-ve  to  do  so ;  for  a  thousand  years  ago,  this 
Eabbi,  in  his  celebrated  epistle,  acknowledges 
that  Ilabbi  Isaac,  seven  hundred  and  five  years 
previously,  had  written  that  this  captivity  had 
befallen  you  for  the  sin  you  committed  in  put- 
ting Christ  to  death :  "Aperte  dicit  Bens  quod  erit 
desolatlo  post  occisionem  Christi;  sicut  est  nostra 
desolatloypostquam  Jesus  fuit  occisusJ* 

VIIL 
My  brethren,  do  you  see  all  these  tokens  al- 
ready fulfilled,  of  what  was  to  happen  to  you  af-' 


12 


SERMON   OF  JUSTINIANO, 


ter  the  Messiah  had  come,  according  to  the  word 
of  your  prophet  ?  Either  you  do  or  you  do  not. 
If  you  do  not,  you  are  blind;  for  the  very  thing 
is  at  this  moment  happening  to  every  individual 
among  you.  If  you  do,  \vliy  do  you  not  disabuse 
yourselves,  and  admit  that  your  hope  is  a  mani- 
fest error,  and  that  the  Messiah  you  expect  can 
never  come,  since  these  tokens  prove  that  he  has 
already  been?  Subsequently  to  the  Messiah's 
coming,  you  were  to  be  a  dispersed  and  ruined 
people:  '^Populus  dlrcptus  et  vastatus.''  You  were 
all  to  be  ensnared  conjointly  or  separately: 
^^Laqueus  universitas  ipsorumj  vel  omnes  ipsV^-^ 
You  were  not  to  be  imprisoned  together  in  gaol, 
but  each  of  you  was  to  have  a  separate  cell  to 
himself:  "//i  domibus  career  urn  abseonditi  sunt  J' — 
So  strong  was  to  be  the  prison,  and  so  rigid  the 
confinement,  that  no  arm  would  be  able  to  res- 
cue you  therefrom :  ^'Facti  sunt  in  rapinam,  nee  est 
quieniat;  in  dircptionem,  nee  est  qui  dicat :  Jiedde.*' 
Now,  at  this  day,  if  you  experience  all  these 
things,  and  your  ancestors  have  experienced  the 
same  for  so  many  years  past,  how  can  you  ex- 
pect a  future  advent,  if  it  was  after  the  advent 
all  these  things  were  to  occur?  What  madness 
in  you  to  look  to  the  future  for  what  is  already 
past  I  After  witnessing  the  consequences  that 
were  to  follow  the  advent  of  the  Messiah,  you 
Btill  continue  to  look  forward  to  that  event.  The 
captivity  continues,  the  imprisonment  does  not 


ARCHBISHOP  or  CRANGANOR.  13 

cease,  the  net  goes  on  strengthening,  the  disper- 
sion extending,  the  destruction  is  prolonged,  and 
the  Messiah  does  not  appear.   After  the  Messiah 
had  come,  you  were  to  undergo  all  this :  the 
event  proves  that  the  coming  has  already  taken 
place;  and  yet  you,  with  this  event  in  view,  still 
expect  him  to  come.  Verily,  this  is  a  part  of  the 
severe  punishment  that  God  has  inflicted  on  you 
for  the  horrid  sacrilege  of  murdering  his  son  — 
lou  hope  for  the  Messiah  in  opposition  to  the 
very  reasons  of  that  for  which  you  hope;  and 
thus,  although  no  longer  in  a  position  to  expect 
hmi,  inasmuch  as  he  has.  already  appeared,  you 
persist,  like  desperate  men,  in  hoping  against  all 
hope.     God  promised  you  a  Messiah  who  was  to 
come,  and  who  accordingly  came;  you,  in  your 
despair  on  seeing  that  he  has  come,  obstinately 
continue  to  hope  for  a  future  Messiah,  who,  it  is 
impossible,  in  the  nature  of  things,  can  come, 
and  yet,  in  spite  of  this  absolute  impossibility, 
persist  in  hoping  for  him,  because  you  cannot 
bring  yourselves  to  lay  such  hopes  altogether 
aside.    According  to  the  most  approved  chrono- 
logy, since  the  time  of  Abraham,  when  God  more 
explicitly  promised  you  the  Messiah,  you  have 
had  three  thousand  six  hundred  and  fifteen  years 
of  hope,  and  you  are  not  yet  tired;  for  you  still 
go  on  hoping,  and  will  continue  to  do  so  until 
the  end  of  the  world.    Courageous  must  be  the 
Jewish  mind,  that  can  thus  hope  on  untiringly. 

c  * 


t 


14 


SERMON  OF  JUSTINIANO, 


ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


15 


Cruel  Messiah,  who  has  so  long  delayed  and  "will 
00  long  delay  to  appear!  O  enduring  people, 
that  can  still  so  persuveringly  wait  for  the  Mes- 
siah I  But  hope  as  much  as  you  please,  you  may 
undeceive  yourselves;  for  so  long  as  you  will  not 
have  done  with  your  hopes,  and  confess  that  be- 
side the  person  of  Jesus  Christ  no  other  Messiah 
is  possible,  your  redemption  will  not  take  place, 
your  captivity  will  continue,  and  your  chastise- 
ment bo  prolonged. 

IX. 
"iS'ec  est  qui  eniat;  nee  est  qui  dicat:  Jleddc^ — 
Kow  upon  the  face  of  it,  this  passage  of  Isaiah 
evidently  implies,  that  it  is  to  be  understood  as 
relating  to  the  Jews  and  the  punishment  which 
they  were  to  undergo  in  their  final  dispersion. 
For  the  prophet  affirms  that  the  Jews  will  not 
have  a  redeemer  till  they  are  freed  from  their 
present  captivity ;  and  if  any  one  of  us  ask  you 
how  long  your  captivity  is  to  endure,  you  can 
only  reply,  that  so  long  as  the  Messiah  whom 
you  expect  does  not  come,  you  will  continue  to 
undergo  your  present  sufferings.  So  that  if  the 
Jews  place  their  hope  of  redemption  in  a  future 
Messiah  (and  they  are  still  expecting  the  Mes- 
siah), why  does  the  prophet  say  that  they  are 
Bot  to  have  redemption?  For  the  precise  reason 
that  the  Jews  expect  their  redemption  from  a 
future  Messiah,  they  must  remain  without  re- 
lief; for  no  new  Messiah  will  ever  be  sent  to 


them;  and  as  such  a  Messiah  is  impossible,  so  is 
the  relief  impossible  that  the  Jews  expect  there- 
from. 

X. 

The  Messiah  the  Jews  expect  is  impossible, 
from  the  very  nature  of  the  predictions  which 
the  Jews  persuade  themselves  that  the  Messiah 
has  to  satisfy.  It  is  impossible,  from  the  time  in 
which  he  was  to  come,  and  also  from  the  signs 
having  been  already  verified  in  Christ,  whtch 
cannot  be  again  fulfilled  in  any  other. 

It  is  impossible,  from  the  time  in  which  he  is 
to  appear;  for  the  time  was  already  past  when 
Christ  came,  and  it  is  impossible  that  a  time 
which  is  past  can  return  again.    It  is,  moreover, 
impossible  from  the  nature  of  the  predictions 
which  the  Jews  persuade  themselves  that  the 
Messiah  has  to  satisfy,  since  these  very  predic- 
tions prove,  that  in  the  Messiah  they  have  been 
ah-eady  fulfilled ;  and,  considering  this  impossi- 
bility, the  Messiah  whom  the  Jews  expect  is  no 
other  than  a  mere  chimera  which  their  obstinacy 
has  invented.  The  prophet,  in  order  to  convince 
the  Jews  that  their  hope  was  a  fable,  and  the  ob- 
ject of  their  desire  but  a  dream,  told  them,  that 
the  more  they  hoped,  the  longer  it  would  be  be- 
fore they  obtained  the  object  of  their  hope,  and 
the  accomplishment  of  their  wishes:  ^^Nec  est  qui 
eruat;  nee  est  qui  dicat:  ReddeJ' 


I 


16 


SERMON   OF  JUSTINIANO, 

XL 


I  shall  next  proceed  to  prove  that  the  hope  of 
the  Jews  is  self-destructive,  for  that  they  are  ex- 
pecting a  Messiah  whom  they  ought  not,  inas- 
much as,  on  every  rational  principle,  a  Messiah 
such  as  the  Jews  expect  is  an  impossibility.  The 
conclusion  must  be  apparent  to  those  who  aro 
sincere  in  their  desire  to  embrace  the  truth,  as 
they  will  be  unable  to  resist  the  force  of  the  evi- 
dence which  I  shall  adduce.  I  might  well  be 
discouraged  and  disheartened  by  the  hopelessness 
of  reaping  any  fruit  from  my  labors,  seeing  how 
inadequate  my  arguments  must  be  to  destroy 
your  stubbornness,  when  Christ  with  his  mira- 
cles could  not  vanquish  the  obstinacy  of  your 
predecessors.  But  surely  the  human  understand- 
ing cannot  for  ever  resist  the  force  of  truth,  how- 
ever unfavorable  the  inclination  may  be  to  its 
reception.  I  will  address  myself  to  your  judg- 
ment and  not  to  your  will;  I  say,  not  to  your 
will,  because  words  cannot  conquer  obstinate  de- 
termination; but  rather  to  your  judgment,  be- 
ca«se  the  understanding  must  give  assent  to 
truth.  Only  attend  to  me  with  a  pious  affection 
of  the  will,  without  previous  obduracy  of  heart, 
and  your  judgment  cannot  fail  to  bo  so  convinc- 
ed as  to  cause  you  to  abjure  sincerely  your  error, 
and  renounce  your  opposition.  We  will  now  en- 
ter upon  the  discussion,  and  begin  by  adducing 
the  particulars  that  were  predicted  concerning 
the  Messiah. 


ARCHBISHOP  OP  CRANGANOR. 

XIL 


17 


In  order  to  prove  to  you  the  impossibility  of 
the  Messiah  whom  you  expect,  by  the  actual 
predictions  from  which  you  infer  what  the  Mes- 
siah is  to  be  when  he  comes,  and  to  make  appa- 
rent to  you  the  fallacy  of  your  expectations,  it 
IS  requisite  to  ask  you  whether  you  expect  a 
Messiah  such  as  God  had  promised  to  you  through 
His  prophets,  or  whether  you  expect  one  fash- 
ioned after  the  fancy  of  a  few  ignorant  men,  who, 
deceiving  themselves  and  you,  have  invented  an 
absurd  Messiah,  and  presented  him  as  the  true 
one  to  your  credulity? 

If  your  expectations  were  of  the  first  kind, 
your  hope  would  be  just,  supposing  that  the  Mes- 
siah had  not  already  sanctified  the  world  with 
his  presence.     If  your  expectations  are  of  the 
latter  kind,  you  are  mad ;  inasmuch  as  you  set 
in  opposition  to  God's  truth  the  idle  story  of  a 
few  idiots,  who  seek  to  amuse  you  with  delusive 
hopes.  As  men  of  sense,  I  know  you  will  answer 
me,  that  the  Messiah,  whenever  he  should  ap- 
pear, would  be  such  as  God  revealed  through 
His  prophets.     Tell  me  now  what  is  to  be  the 
Messiah  whom  you  expect  ?    Is  he  to  be  a  mere 
man  like  Moses,  who  delivered  you  from  Ecryp. 
tian  captivity,  or  like  Zerubbabel,  who  redeemed 
you  from  the  Babylonian  bondage?  I  well  know 
that  you,  or  your  teachers  for  you,  will  answer 
me  that  the  Messiah  will  possess  far  higher  attri- 


18 


SERMON   OP   JUSTINIANO, 


ARCHBIsnOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


19 


h 


butes,  as  he  will  deliver  you  from  your  present 
oppression,  and  restore  you  to  a  more  glorious 
freedom.  The  same  all  your  Rabbins  affirm  in 
their  Talmud,  see  Sanhedririf  chap.  Belelc. 

XIII. 
Again  I  ask  you,  The  Messiah  whom  you  still 
expect,  presuming  him  more  powerful  than  Ze- 
rubbabol  or  Moses,  is  he  to  bo  a  mere  man  as 
these  two  were,  or  will  he  be  man  and  God,  as 
these  two  were  not  ?  On  the  reply  to  this  de- 
pends the  truth  of  our  foith  and  the  falsity  of 
yours.  A  modern  sect  among  your  Rabbins  ad- 
vises you  to  give  no  reply  to  this  question  (and 
they  do  well,  for  your  reply  would  infallibly  ena- 
ble us  to  convince  you  of  your  error),  and  to  this 
end  they  persuade  you  that  when  you  cannot  get 
excused  from  making  a  reply,  you  should  deny 
the  point  of  a  Messiah  altogether,  saying  that  he 
never  came,  nor  ever  will  come,  for  that  the  ad- 
vent of  the  Messiah  is  not  an  article  of  your  fliith, 
and  that  Judaism  does  not  consist  in  that  expec- 
tation, but  in  the  true  observance  of  the  law  of 
Moses,  wbich  is  the  only  thing  obligatory  on  the 

Jews. 

XIV. 

To  understand  correctly  this  point,  it  is  requi- 
site to  know  that,  with  regard  to  the  Messiah, 
the  Jews  of  the  present  day  are  divided  into  two 
entirely  different  and  opposite  opinions.  Some 
gay,  and  that  is  the  general  opinion  among  your 


wretched  people,  that  the  Messiah  has  not  yet 
come.    Others  assert  that  he  came  one  thousand 
six  hundred  and  thirty-two  years  ago,  having 
been  born  at  the  period  when  Titus  destroyed 
Jerusalem.     So  it  is  written  in  the  Talmud  in 
Beresheet  Raha  (which  is  in  substance  a  copious 
commentary  upon  Genesis)  chap.  Echa.    Also  in 
the  book  Sanhedrin  in  the  chapter  Cum  similiter. 
And  as  it  is  maintained,  according  to  this  opin- 
ion, that  the  Messiah  has  already  come,  no  less 
than  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  thirty-two 
years  must  have  elapsed  since  his  advent;  and 
yet,  during  all  that  time,  no  Jew  has  seen  him. 
Some  even  say  that  he  is  still  wandering  un- 
known  about  the  world ;  others,  that  he  stands 
at  the  gates  of  Rome  in  company  with  the  poor, 
soliciting  alms;  others,  that  he  is  concealed  in 
the  Caspian  hills,  with  such  precautions,  that  if 
an  attempt  should  be  made  to  go  in  search  of 
him,  the  river  Sabbatine  would  present  an  invin- 
cible obstruction ;  for  on  any  Jew's  approaching 
its  margin,  its  waters  are  suddenly  petrified,  and 
rain  down  so  heavy  a  shower  of  stones  on  the 
unfortunate  intruders,  that  they  either  are  killed 
on  the  spot  or  are  compelled  to  retire,  leaving 
their  Messiah  in  his  enchanted  hiding-place. 

XY. 
Others,  knowing  that  the  Caspian  hills  were 
within  our  reach,  and  considering  the  fable  of  the 
Sabbatine  river  perfectly  ridiculous,  had  recourse 


!| 


20 


SERMON   OF  JUSTINIANO, 


i 


I 


to  Paradise,  saying  that  the  Messiah  is  entertain- 
ed there  in  the  company  of  Moses  and  Elijah ; 
and  that  when  the  time  should  come,  God  would 
send  him  to  deliver  the  Jews.  To  these  two 
opinions  may  be  added  a  third  of  the  modern 
Eabbins,  asserting  that  the  Messiah  has  not  come, 
nor  ever  will  come,  since  God  has  not  promised 
it  in  the  Scriptures,  nor  is  his  advent  an  article 
of  faith  with  the  Jews.  This  newly  invented 
opinion  is  so  little  followed,  that  as  yet  I  have 
not  met  with  any  other  person  professing  it,  be- 
side one  Francisco  Antonio  de  Olivares,  a  Castil- 
ian  by  birth,  who  was  expelled  this  city  the  14th 
Jul}',  1G8G,  and  died  professing  this  article  of  be- 
lief, or  rather  this  absurdity,  for  such  all  the  Jews 
uniformly  consider  it,  as  we  read  in  the  Talmud, 
Treatise  Sanhedrinj  chap.  Helcky  where  the  Rab- 
bins expressly  avow  that  there  was  no  prophet 
who  did  not  make  mention  of  the  advent  of  the 
Messiah :  *^  Omnes prophetce  aliquid  de  Messiah  j^rce- 
dixerunV  The  like  is  affirmed  in  Ycdcut  in  the 
exposition  of  chapter  Ixvi.  of  Isaiah,  p.  3G8.  To 
this  truth  every  Jew  in  fact  bears  witness,  when 
on  the  Sabbath  day,  in  all  the  Synagogues,  they 
chant  the  celebrated  Hebrew  hymn  Yigdal  Elo- 
him  Hayy  wherein  they  entreat  God  t-o  hasten 
the  advent  of  the  Messiah.  But  not  to  dwell  on 
an  article  that  is  acknowledged  universally  by 
every  Synagogue,  the  testimony  of  Eabbi  Moses 
of  Egypt,  one  of  the  most  ancient  of  the  Jewish 


ARCHBISHOP   OF   CRANGANOR.  21 

Rabbins,  will  suffice  to  establish  the  fact.     This 
Rabbi  observes,  in  his  exposition  of  the  creed 
that  the  eleventh  article  is  the  acknowledgment 
of  the  Messiah,  in  which  the  Jews  are  to  believe 
^vith  a  perfect  faith,  under  the  penalty,  in  case 
they  should  reject  it,  of  being  reputed  heretics 
by  their  Synagogues.     ^^Undecimus  articulus  est 
Messias,  et  hunc  tcnentur  Hebmi  firma  fide  credere 
et  venturum  sperare,  prout  omnes  prophetce  predixe^ 
runt    Et  qui  ham  veritatem  negaverit  a  lege  disce^ 
dere  et  hareticum  reputari  deheretJ* 

XYI. 
These  two  opinions  being  premised,  as  those 
that  the  Jews  hold  concerning  the  Messiah,  tell 
me,  O  children  of  Israel,  was  the  Messiah  who 
came  at  the  period  of  the  destruction  of  your 
city,  or  is  the  Messiah,  who  is,  as  you  imagine, 
yet  to  come,  to  be  a  man  or  God  and  man  united? 
This  question  being  pressed,  you  will  all  reply 
that  he  was  or  is  to  be  simply  man.  Then  if  such 
were  your  Messiah  who  has  already  come  or  if 
such  is  to  be  the  Messiah  whom  you  still  expect 
to  come,  know  of  a  certainty  none  such  will 
come,  nor  has  yet  come;  for  the  Messiah  whom 
you  say  is  to  be,  or  already  has  been,  is  totally 
impossible :  and  what  is  impossible  cannot  have 
happened  in  the  past,  nor  can  happen  at  any  fu- 
ture  time.    The  Messiah  must  be  God  and  man  • 
for  God  revealed  to  us  by  his  prophets  that  the 


22 


SERMON   OF  JUSTINIANO, 


I 


Messiah  was  to  possess  the  combination  of  tlie 
two  natures,  human  and  divine.     And  it  is  im- 
possible that  God  shoukl  speak  untruth,  or  that 
God  should  deceive;  and  it  is  equally  impossible 
that  there  should  be  anv  true  Messiah  with  other 
attributes  than  such  as  God  revealed  would  ap- 
pertain to  the  true  Messiah.    Therefore  the  Mes- 
siah whom  your  hopes  induce  you  to  imagine 
will  still  come,  because  he  has  not  yet  appeared, 
or  the  Messiah  whom,  notwithstanding  his  hav- 
ing already  come,  you  still  expect  to  accomplish 
your  deliverance,  is  impossible  in  his  very  na- 
ture.    Being  impossible,  he  cannot  have  come 
already,  nor  can  he  remain  to  come;  consequent- 
ly, your  expectation  defeats  itself,  and  will  never 
be  realized. 

Hope,  then,  as  long  as  you  please,  you  who  re- 
solve to  remain  Jews;  but  undeceive  yourselves, 
for  if  your  Messiah  was  or  is  to  be  as  you  expect, 
he  never  will  be  nor  has  he  been;  for  such  a  Mes- 
siah is  an  impossibility.     Now  hearken  to  your 

prophets. 

XVII. 

To  the  two  prophets,  Isaiah  and  Jeremiah, 
among  several  others,  God  revealed  who  was  to 
be  the  Messiah  that  lie  had  determined  to  send 
into  the  world.  Isaiah,  in  the  ninth  chapter  of 
his  prophecies,  described  him  thus,  conformably 
to  your  Hebrew  text :  ^^Infans  natus  est  nobis,  et 
filins  datus  est  nobis,  et  erit  principatus  super  hu- 


ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR.  23 

merum  ejus:  et  vocabitur  nomen  ejus  Admirabilis, 
Manns,  Deus,  Fortis,  Pater  SempUernus,  [or 
Pater  Sempiterniiatisl  Princeps  Pax;  ad  multipW 
candumprincipatumetpacis  non  erit  finis,  super  so- 
Hum  David  et  super  regnum  ejus  sedebit,  ut  confiri^ 
et  Iliad  et  eorroboret  in  judicio  et  jusfitia  a  modo  et 
vsquc  in  sernpiternum."   -Unto  us  a  child  is  born 
and  unto  us  a  son  is  given,  and  the  government 
shall  be  upon  his  shoulders :  he  shall  be  called 
^\  onderful,  Counsellor,  God,  Powerful,  everlast- 
ing  father  [or  the  Father  of  Eternity],  Prince 
ofPeace  [or  Prince  Peace];  whose  empire  shall 
be  greatly  augmented,  he  shall  sit  on  the  throne 
of  David  and  over  his  kingdom,  to  establish  and 
strengthen  it  in  judgment  and  justice  henceforth 
and  to  all  eternity.'' 

X71IL 

God  made  the  same,  or  nearly  the  same  reve- 
lation,  with  a  slight  difference,  to  the  prophet 
Jereniiah,  chapters  xxiii  and  xxxiii,  according  to 
your  Hebrew  text:  -Fcce  dies  venient,  dieit  JDomi- 
nus;  etsuseitabo  David  germen  justum,  et  regnabit 
Rex  et  intelliget;  et  faciei  judieium  et  justitiam  in 
terra     In  diebus  illis  salvabitur  Juda,  et  Israel  ha- 
bitabit  adfiduciam;  et  hoc  est  nomen  quod  vocabunt 
eum:  Jehova  (seu  Tetragrammaton)  Justus  nosterJ' 
Ihe  time  will  come,  says  God,  that  I  will  pro- 
duce  for  David  a  scion  of  his  stock,  he  shall  reign 
as  king,  shall  be  wise  and  shall  execute  judgment 


24 


BERMON   OF  JUSTINIANO, 


and  justice  on  the  earth;  and  in  that  time  Judah 
shall  be  saved,  and  Israel  shall  unite  with  him 
in  perfect  confidence.  The  name  he  is  to  bear  is 
that  of  God  Jehovah  (or  the  Tetragrammaton)  our 


righteous  one." 


XIX. 


These  two  prophets  thus  furnish,  in  their  re- 
spective predictions,  two  signs,  whereby  you,  as 
Jews,  might  recognise  the  promised  Messiah. — 
Isaiah  says,  he  is  to  be  born  a  child:  "  Infans  na- 
tus  est.'*  That  he  was  to  be  given  at  a  certain 
time:  ^'l^ilius  daius  est.''  That  he  was  to  bear 
upon  his  shoulders :  *^  Super  humerinn  ejus."  That 
he  was  to  hold  the  sovereignt}'  which  should  in- 
crease and  extend :  "  Ad  multipUcandum  imperU 
urn."  That  he  was  to  sit  on  the  throne  and  be 
placed  over  the  kingdom  of  David:  ^^ Super  solium 
Davidy  et  super  regnum  ejus."  This  is  the  first  sign 
that  the  prophet  gives,  whereby  to  recognise  the 
Messiah.  But  he  says,  moreover,  that  besides  all 
these  predictions,  there  will  be  another  sign 
-which  appertains  to  the  true  Messiah,  whereby 
be  may  be  known.  "  For  his  surname  shall  bo 
called.  Wonderful  (Admirabilis),  CounscWor  (Con- 
ciliarius)y  God  {Dtus),  Powerful  {Fortes'),  Ever- 
lasting Father  {Pater  Sempiternus),  [or,  Father  of 
Eternity  {Pater  Sempiternitatis)],  Prince  of  Peace 
{Pr biceps  Pacis),  [or.  Prince  Peace  {Princeps 
Pax)]'.' — that  the  peace  should  have  no  end: 
^^Et pads  non  erit  finis:"  that  his  empire  should* 


ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANOANOR. 


25 


endure  from  now  unto  all  eternity—"^  modo  et 
vsque  in  sempiternum."  This  is  the  second  sign  of 
the  Messiah.  The  first  sign  clearly  proves  that 
the  Messiah  is  to  be  man ;  for  if  the  Messiah  is 
to  be  born  a  child,  to  be  produced  in  time,  to  bear 
on  his  shoulders  an  empire  that  will  increase  and 
extend,  and  be  placed  on  the  throneof  David  and 
over  his  kingdom,  the  Messiah  must  of  necessity 
be  man,  for  man  alone  can  satisfy  these  condi- 
tions. 

XX. 

The  second  sign  is  a  conclusive  demonstration 
of  the  divinity  of  the  Messiah,  for  if  the  Messiah 
is  to  bear  the  names  that  the  prophet  said  he 
should,  and  to  be  called  Wonderful,  Counsellor, 
God,  Powerful,  Everlasting  Father,  or  Father  of 
Eternity,  to  hold  perpetual  sovereignty,  kingdom 
without  end  and  peace  interminable:  then,  since 
no  man  who  is  only  mere  man,  can  have  inter- 
minable peace,  a  kingdom  without  end,  perpetual 
empire,  nor   be   Eternal   Father,  or   Father  of 
Eternity,  be  called  God,  or  have  the  name  of  God 
appropriated  to  him,  it  follows  that  the  Messiah 
must  be  God,  since  these  attributes  can  only  be- 
long to  Ilim  who  is  God.    It  follows,  according 
to  the  first-mentioned  conditions,  that  the  Mes- 
siah must  be  nv.in ;  and,  according  to  the  second, 
that  he  must  be  God;  consequently,  the  Messiah 
must  be  both  God  and  man. 


fi 


26 


SERMON   OF  JUSTINIANO, 


ARCHBISHOP   or   CRANGANOR. 


27 


Nil' 


^ 

I 


■•l. 


XXI. 

The  words  of  Jeremiah  corroborate  this  argu- 
ment, and  also  furni.sh  two  signs  whcreb}'  the 
Messiah  may  be  recognised ;  for  he  says,  the  Mes- 
siah was  to  bo  hereafter:  ^^  Ecce  dies  venicnt.'* 
That  he  should  appear  in  course  of  time  :  "  Sus- 
citabo."  That  he  was  to  be  of  the  line  of  David: 
"  Gcrmen  Davids  That  he  should  execute  jus- 
tice :  "  Facit  Justitiiun  ;"  and  that  this  justice  was 
to  be  done  on  earth  :  "  In  terra."  That  he  should 
become  king:  ^^  Et  regnal  it  7iVx."That  he  should 
in  time  save  tiie  Jews:  ^^  Salvahltur  Juda ;'^ — and 
that  the  Jews  are  to  live  under  him  in  perfect 
confidence  :  "  Israel  haOitabit  ad  fiducium."  All 
these  circumstances  prove  that  the  Messiah  must 
bo  man,  because  with  man  only  are  these  circum- 
stances compatible. 

XXII. 

The  Messiah,  besides  what  we  have  already 
quoted  from  the  prophet,  was  to  be  called  by  the 
proper  name  of  God;  and  this  name  God  was  not 
to  be  any  one  indifferently  of  those  applied  to 
the  Deity;  but  solely,  that  most  sacred  nameJe- 
hovahj  which  signifies  in  every  way  the  existence 
of  God  and  the  essence  of  llis  eternity  (as  I  shall 
presently  prove  from  the  Kabbins,)  which  name 
and  the  applied  attribute  are  compatible  with 
God  alone.  For  inasmuch  as  it  appertains  to  God 
alone  to  be  self-existent,  so  to  God  alone  can  ap- 


pertain this  name  which  asserts  His  uncreated- 
ness  and  His  eternity:  so  that  if  God  says,  that 
this  is  the  name  the  Messiah  was  to  bear,  either 
the  Messiah  must  be  God,  orGod  places  us  in  pe- 
ril of  adoring  the  Messiah  as  God,  all  the  while 
that  he  is  not  God;  since  we  should  see  the  Mes- 
Biah  boaringas  his  proper  name,,  that  name  which 
he  could  not  bear  unless  he  were  God.    God  can- 
not be  the  cause  of  error  or  deception.  Accordino" 
to  the  first-mentioned  titles  which  God  revealed 
the  Messiah  was  to  bear,  he  must  be  Man-  ac- 
cording  to  the  second  Goo:  therefore  the  Mes- 
siah  is  both  God  and  Man.    Kow,  if  you  expect 
in  the  Messiah,  man  only,  and  not  God,  you  ex- 
pect an  impossible  Messiah.     For  the  3Iessiah, 
upon   that   supposition,   could    not   have   those' 
names  ascribed  to  him  which  God  said  the  Mes- 
siah should  have.    The  prophets  have  told  you 
that  the  Messiah  is  to  be  both  God  and  Man;  and 
you,   in  opposition    to  your  prophets,   throu<rh 
whose  mouth  God  spake,  expect  a  Messiah  timt 
IS  to  be  mere  man.    Thus  you  are  expecting  a 
Messiah  that  cannot  have  come,  nor  can   ever 
have  to  come.    So  that  your  hope  is  self-destruc- 
tive; for  whereas  no  hope  can  be  placed  except 
upon  a  possible  object,  not  only  is   the  object 
which  you  hope  for  impossible,  but  equally  so  in 
its  very  nature  is  the  hope  itself,  and  is  impossi- 
ble to  be  realized  either  in  the  past,  present,  or 
future;  so  that  your  hope  of  a  Messiah,  merely 


I 


28 


SERMON   OF  JUSTINIANO, 


>li 


man,  is  at  the  present  time  a  dream,  in  the  past 
a  shadow,  and  in  the  future  will  prove  a  fable. 

XXIII. 

"What  solution  do  you  give  to  these  two  pro- 
phecies that  are  so  clearly  adverse  to  your  expec- 
tation ?  What  answer  do  you  make  to  a  demon- 
stration so  decisive  against  your  delusion  ?  You 
must  either  believe  or  disbelieve  what  your  two 
prophets  have  declared.  If  you  believe  them,  how 
can  you  possibly  expect  a  Messiah  in  contradic- 
tion to  what  they  have  foretold?  If  you  do  not 
believe  them,  why  deceive  the  world,  or  why  de- 
ceive yourselves  by  still  calling  yourselves  Jews? 
I  am  well  aware  that  you  will  answer  me,  that 
although  as  unlearned  men  you  do  not  know  how 
to  reply  to  these  prophecies,  yet  your  teachers 
arc  perfectly  competent  to  solve  these  difficulties, 
and  that  if  you  were  in  Holland,  Venice,  Leg- 
horn, or  Turin,  we  should  not  be  able  to  press 
you  so  hard ;  for  that  in  those  places  you  have 
Rabbins,  who,  as  men  of  education  and  learning, 
well  know  how  to  explain  these  passages,  and 
are  competent  to  reply  to  such  arguments.  Now 
I  will  stand  in  their  place,  and  have  onl}-  to  re- 
quest that  you  will  consent  to  abide  by  the  an- 
swers of  your  teachers  and  the  exposition  of  your 
Rabbins,  for  I  will  repeat  to  you  all  that  they 
write  and  teach  with  the  object  of  throwing  doubt 
upon  our  faith,  in  order  that  I  may  clearly  de- 
monstrate to  you  the  falsity  of  their  doctrines; 


ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR.  29 

and  I  take  God,  who  will  judge  us  all,  as  witness, 
that  I  will  relate  to  you  all  that  your  masters  lay 
down,  with  a  view  to  expound  these  difficulties; 
or  rather,  to  use  the  words  of  your  own  Eabbi 
Samuel,  I  will  repeat  all  your  teachers  have  ad- 
vanced, in  order  to  deceive  you  and  themselves 
'^Dominer  Bays  this  rabbi,  writing  to  Rabbi  Isaac, 
'^Domine,  mi  viddur  quod  decipimus  alios  et  nos 
ijpsos." 

XXIV. 
Rabbi  Eben  Ezra,  after  he  saw  that  he  would 
be  obliged,  according  to  the  text  of  Isaiah,  to  con- 
fess the  Messiah  to  be  God,  fearing  lest  he  should 
be  cast  out  of  the  Synagogue,  in  order  to  keep  in 
with  the  Jews,  denied  that  the  prophet  spoke  of 
the  Messiah  in  that  passage,  alleging  that  the 
text  alluded  to  king  Ilezekiah  ;  and  Rabbi  Solo- 
mon, who  was  esteemed  a  Solomon  among  all  the 
Jews,  in  order  to  deceive  you,  professed  the  same 
opinion;  but  perceiving  that  this  interpretation 
would  be  easily  refuted  by  the  text,  with  a  view 
to  support  his  error,  ventured  to  vitiate  the  ori- 
ginal Hebrew,  thereby  committing  a  heavy  crime, 
since  there  is  an  express  command  in  Deut.  iv.  2 
wherein  God  forbids  the  committal  of  so  wicked 
an  act,  "  JVon  addetis  super  verbo,  quod  ego  prceci- 
pio  vobis  nee  minuetis  ex  eo,"    So  reads  your  He- 
brew text.     The  modern  rabbins  explain  in  like 
manner,  the  passage  in  Jeremiah,  for  they  also 
deny  that  the  prophet  spoke  of  the  Messiah, 


I 


30 


SERMON   OP   JUSTINIANO, 


some  affirming  that  he  alhidcs  to  David,  and  oth- 
ers to  Zerubbabcl;  but  all  alike  join  in  corrupting 
the  sense  of  the  text,  and  maintain  that  the  name 
of  God  does  not  prove  the  divinity  of  the  Mes- 
siah, fur  that  it  either  is  not  ascribed,  in  the  text 
to  the  Messiah,  or  even  if  it  is  so  ascribed,  the 
Scriptures  show  that  the  name  of  God  is  fre- 
quently applied  to  other  objects  besides  the 
Deity. 

XXV. 

Such  are  the  answers  that  your  teachers  make 
to  our  demonstrations;  but  these  need  only  to 
be  stated  for  their  falsehood  to  become  apparent. 

Two  fi^lse  assertions  are  contained  in  the  an- 
swers of  your  rabbins.  The  first,  that  those  pas- 
sajros  in  Isaiah  and  Jeremiah  were  not  intended 
to  refer  to  the  Messiah.  The  second,  that,  in  the 
passage  from  Isaiah,  the  prophet  speaks  of  King 
Hezekiah;  and  in  that  from  Jeremiah,  the  pro- 
phet speaks  of  David  or  Zerubbabel.  Moreover, 
that  the  name  of  God  applied  to  the  Messiah  in 
these  two  passages,  does  not  prove  that  the  Mes- 
siah was  God,  even  if  they  bo  allowed  to  refer  to 
the  Messiah;  for  that  either  the  Messiah  does  not 
take  upon  himself  the  name  of  God,  or  even  if  he 
did  assume  that  name,  it  would  be  no  proof  of 
Lis  divinity.  And  that  you  may  clearly  see  that 
the  whole  of  this  taught  you  by  your  rabbins  is 
a  gross  falsehood  and  absurdity^  I  will  show  you 
with  what  ease  their  doctrines  admit  of  refuta- 


ARCHBISIIOP   OF  CRANGANOR.  31 

tion,  and  we  will  begin  with  showing  that  the 
two  passages  do  refer  to  the  Messiah. 

XXYL 

The  Targum,  or  Clialdee  paraphrase  of  Eabbi 
Jonathan  lion  Uziel,  that  is,  Eabbi  Jonathan  son 
of  Uziel,  which  some  authors,  evincincr  the  little 
knowledge  they  had  of  the  Ilebrevv  writings, 
confound  with  the  Targum  of  Onkelos,  tlms 
translates  into  Chaldee  this  passage  of  Isaiah  fol- 
lowing the  text  of  the  Hebrew.  <^  Infans  natus 
est  nobis,  Filius  datus  est  noOis,  et  suscipiet  legem 
super  se,  ad  conservandam  earn,  et  vocahitur  nomen 
ejus,  MModam,  Beus  fortis,  permanens  in  soecula 
sceculorum  Messiah:' 

This  book  is  held  so  sacred  among  the  Jews, 
that,  down  to  the  present  day,  no  one  of  your 
Synagogues  has  ventured  to  reject  or  controvert 
it,  not  alone  from  its  venerable  antiquity  (for  it 
was  composed  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and 
forty-seven   years    ago,  forty- two  years   before 
Christ),  but  because  in  all  your  schools  which 
you  improperly  call  "Synagogues,^'  it  is  read  every 
Sabbath  day  equally  with  the  Torah,  that  is,  the 
Pentateuch  of  Moses.     Moreover,  you  or  your 
rabbins  (who  have  invented  your  ridiculous  fie- 
tions,)  have  made  your  belief  in  this  book  a  mat- 
ter of  public  notoriety,  from  having  had  put  into 
your  head  the  well-known  fable  to  the  effect  that 
when  Jonathan  was  composing  it,  if  a  fly  chanced 


32 


SERMON   OF  JUSTINIANO, 


t 


to  light  on  tlie  paper  on  which  he  was  writing, 
there  came  instantly  a  fire  from  heaven  which 
consumed  the  fly,  but  left  the  paper  untouched  : 
a  fine  story  for  men  of  sense  to  believe  in  ! 

Kow,  if  the  Targum  which  is  admitted  as  a 
book  of  infallible  authority  and  as  canonical,  and 
the  truth  of  which  has  been  always  held  to  be 
incontrovertible,  explains  the  passage  from  the 
prophet  Isaiah  as  relating  to  the  Messiah,  it  must 
unquestionably  be  wrong  in  any  Jew  to  deny  that 
the  prophet  did  not  here  allude  to  the  Messiah. 

XXVII. 

The  same  sense  as  is  given  in  the  Targum,  Tve 
find  in  Bercsheet  liubfja,  in  the  largo  glossary  on 
Gen.  iv.  where  it  says,  viz  : — "  Xon  est  autem  no- 
men  Domini  hie,  nisi  Rex  Messias,  ut  dictum  est: 
Principatus  super  humerum  ejus!"  To  these  books 
which  you  hold  as  sacred  and  infallible,  wo  will 
add  the  authority  of  the  rabbins,  to  prove  that  the 
passage  relates  to  the  Messiah.  Eabbi  Joseph  Gali- 
leo, in  his  preface  to  the  Lamentations,  which  are 
called  in  Hebrew,  Echa  liubbathi,  being  asked  the 
name  of  the  Messiah,  answered  thus — ^^JS^omen 
Messice  Pax  script  urn  estyCnim  princeps  pads  Moyses 
Egyptio"  This  rabbi,  whom  by  distinction  you 
call  "the  great  preacher,"  also  says  in  his  epistle 
named  Jijaret  Temarij  written  to  the  rabbins  in 
Africa, "  Omnia  nomina  hie  posita  ah  Isaia,  ix.  cum 
epithetis  suis  dicuntur  de  puero  nato  qui  est  Bex 


ARCHBISHOP   OF   CRANGANOR.  gg 

Messias."  Consequently  the  opinions  of  Kabbi 
Eben  Ezra,  and  of  the  other  rabbins  who  deny 
that  the  passage  treats  of  the  Messiah,  must  bo 
erroneous;  for  besides  being  in  opposition  to  so 
many  ancient  rabbins  it  is  contrary  to  the  Tar- 
gum, which  you  admit  to  be  an  authentic  work, 
and  even  recognise  as  sacred. 

XXVIII. 

By  the  same  evid.mce,  it  may  be  proved  that 
the  passage  in  Jeremiah  is  meant  of  the  Messiah, 
which  we  consider  to  be  the  case  not  only  be- 
cause your  most  learned  and  most  ancient  rabbins 
who  flourished  in  your  synagogues  acknowledge 
it,  but  because  we  find  the  same  in  the  Targum 
of  Jonathan.    "7/i  temjjore  illo  statuam  Messiam 
justum  et  hoc  est  nomen  quod  ipsi  dicent  ei:    Te- 
tragrammaton  Justus  nostcry     The  same  we  infer 
from  the  book  Midrash  Tehilim,  which  is  a  com- 
mentary on  the  Psalms,  where  the  text  is  thus 
expounded :  ''Domine  in  virtute  tua  Mahitur  Bexr 
Also  in  this  book  we  read,  "  Quod  est  Messim  no- 
men  est  illud  quod  dicitur,"  in  cap.  xxiii.  Jeremiad, 
''Bominus  Justus  noster."  The  like  we  infer  from' 
the  book  Echa  liabbathi,  where  expounding  that 
part  of  Lamentations,  "  Longe /actus  est  a  me  con- 
solator/'  Eabbi  Abba,  speaking  of  the  Messiah, 
writes  thus :  Quia  elongatus  est  a  me  consolator 
convertens  animam  meam.     Quod  est  nomen  Mes- 
simf  Deus  Jehova  est  nomen  ejus,  sicut  dictum  est 


I 


m 


34 


SERMON   OF  JUSTINIAXO, 


Jeremlcey*  cap.  xxiii.  "  Et  hoc  est  nomcn  quod  vo- 
cabunt  ewm,  Dominus  Justus  noster."  This  is  proved 
from  an  infinite  number  of  rabbins  and  books 
admitted  by  the  Jews,  which,  in  order  not  to 
waste  time,  I  shall  refrain  from  quoting.  We  are 
thus  provided  with  a  ready  answer  to  your  teach- 
ers, which  proves  them  to  be  guilty  of  fallacy 
and  falsehood  in  denying  that  these  passages  in 
the  two  prophets  treat  of  the  Messiah,  because, 
they  know  not  how  to  reply  to  the  evidence  of  the 
demonstration  we  have  given,  and  being  deter- 
inined  to  remain  Jews,  reject  the  interpretation 
both  of  the  canonical  books,  and  their  most  an- 
cient rabbins,  in  order  to  persevere  in  error. 

XXIX. 

Eben  Ezra  and  Rabbi  Solomon,  being  thus 
convicted  of  falsehood,  in  denying  that  these 
prophets  speak  of  the  Messiah,  we  will  now  pro- 
ceed to  convict  them  of  a  second  error  in  affirm- 
ing that  the  passage  in  Isaiah  applies  to  King 
Hezekiah,  and  also  to  expose  the  error  of  other 
Eabbins,  in  affirming  that  the  text  in  Jeremiah 
alludes  to  David  or  Zerubbabel;  and  that  tho 
name  of  God  applied  in  these  two  places  to  the 
Messiah,  does  not  prove  his  divinity,  even  grant- 
ing that  they  are  applied  to  him:  in  other  words, 
that  the  name  of  God  is  not  applied  to  the  Mes- 
siah, or  even  if  so  applied,  is  not  sufficient  to 
prove  his  divinity. 


ARCHBISHOP  or  CRANGANOR. 


85 


XXX. 

Fii^t :— If  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah  is  to  be  un- 
derstood to  treat  of  Hezekiah,  as  these  Rabbins 
pretend,  they  are  bound  to  show  us  how  the  pre- 
diction of  the  prophet  has  been  fulfilled  in  Heze- 
kiah.    But  this  they  cannot  show,  as  to  do  so 
they  must  either  deny  chapter  xviii.  of  the  4th 
[2nd]  Book  of  Kings,  or  must  pronounce  that  the 
Scripture  declares  what  is  untrue,  or  has  been 
falsified  in  this  chapter.    For  if  the  prophet  thus 
speaks  of  Hezekiah,  of  necessity  Hezekiah  was 
not  called  Hezekiah,  but  God;  and  this  alone 
must  have  been  his  name.  Farthermore,  it  must 
be  shown  that  Hezekiah  was  the  prince  of  peace, 
and  the  peace  in  his  time  was  perpetual;  also 
that  he  was  Eternal  Father,  or  Father  of  Eter- 
nity, and  his  dominion  exists  at  this  day,  and 
will  have  no  end;  for  all  this  can  be  inferred  from 
the  aforementioned  passage  in  Isaiah,  that  he 
was  to  be  the  Son— born  of  Him  of  whom  the 
prophet  treats  in  chapter  ix.  Nothing  of  all  this 
has  been  realized  in  Hezekiah,  nor  can  be  real- 
ized,  but  the  direct  contrary  is  shown  in  the  sa- 
crcd  text.    Therefore  it  is  false  to  assert  that  the 
prophet  speaks  of  Hezekiah. 

XXXI. 

That  no  one  ever  called  Hezekiah  a  God,  and 
that  the  designation  of  God  was  never  bestowed 
on  that  prince,  is  most  certain,  because  we  can- 


I 


86 


SERMON    OF   JUSTINIANO, 


not  trace  from  Scripture  that  such  title  has  been 
given  to  him;  but,  on  the  contrary,  he  is  there 
never  called  by  any  other  name  than  Ilezekiah. 
That  he  never  was  nor  could  be  the  Eternal  Fa- 
ther, or  Father  of  Eternity,  our  natural  reason 
is  sufficient  to  convince  us,  for  Ilezekiah  was  no- 
toriously a  man;  and  it  is  incumbent  upon  your 
teachers  to  show  when  and  how  these  epithets, 
which  are  the  attributes  of  the  Deity,  were  or 
could  be  rationally  ascribed  to  Ilezekiah;  for 
none  can  be  an  everlasting  Father,  or  Father  of 
Eternity,  unless  his  own  existence  were  to  all 
eternity,  which  is  not  the  case  with  any  other 
than  the  Deity.  They  must  show  us  that  this 
king  and  his  generation  exist  at  the  present  day, 
and  that  his  dominion  was  multiplied,  instead  of 
being  divided  as  it  was,  when  he  received  it  from 
his  father.  They  must  show  us  how  the  kingdom 
of  David  is  strengthened  and  established  at  this 
day,  and  was  not  diminished  and  ruined  in  the 
time  of  his  son  Menasseh.  But  in  order  that  this 
point  may  rest  on  more  than  mere  assertion,  we 
■will  establish  it  from  the  Scriptures. 

XXXII. 

The  sacred  text  of  chapter  xviii.  of  the  4th 
Book  of  Kings,  is  quite  opposed  to  this  exposi- 
tion of  your  Rabbins.  Hezekiah  was  so  far  from 
extending  his  dominion,  that  he  received  only  a 
portion  of  his  father's  kingdom.     No  sooner  did 


AECHBISHOP  OP  CRANGANOR.  37 

he  nssnme  the  reins  of  government  than  all  the 
pnneipal  fortified  cities  of  his  kingdom  were  ta- 
ken by  Sannacherib;  and  in  order  to  rid  himself 
of  he  danger  that  threatened  it,  he  gave  the  in- 
vadcr  three  hundred  talents  of  silver  and  thirty 
of  gold;  and,  to  pay  this  tribute,  was  compelled 
not  only  to  exhaust  his  treasury,  but  to  with- 
draw  from  the  temple  the  silver  and  gold  which 
It  contained.    The  peace  conceded  to  him  was  of 
so  short  a  duration,  that  his  whole  reign  was  a 
perpetual  warfare:  and  finally  his  son  lost  the 
wl.ole  of  his  empire,  and  the  establishment  of 
the  house  of  David  came  to  an  end  in  his  person, 
in  which  the  succession  to  the  throne  was  lost 
and  cstniguishcd;  since  no  other  descendants  of 
ilezekiah  now  exists,  nor  is  the  kingdom  of  that 
prince  in  being  at  the  present  day.  All  this  hap- 
pened to  Uezekiah,  as  we  see  in  chapters  xviii 
SIX,  and  XX.  of  the  4th  Book  of  Kings;  and  what-' 
ever  18  drawn  from  those  chapters  is  an  article 
of  faith  with  you.     Kothing  of  all  this  was  to 
Jiappen  according  to  the  predictions  of  Isaiah  • 
therefore  either  the  prophecy  itself,  or  the  ac- 
count given  in  Kings,  or  the  interpretation  of 
tlie  Eabbms,  must  be  false.    For  if  the  prophet 
says  that  the  One  prophesied  of  was  to  be  called 
God,  to  be  prince  of  peace,  and  that  to  his  peace 
there  should  be  no  end;  to  be  Eternal  Father  or 
a  Father  of  Eternity;  that  he  was  to  have  in- 
creased dominion;  and  that  his  kingdom  was  to 


38 


SERMON   OP  JUSTINIANO, 


K'l' 


be  endless,  and  that  he  should  perpetually  estab- 
lish the  throne  of  David:  then,  since  the  passage 
in  the  Book  of  Kings  informs  us  that  every  thing 
that  happened  to  Ilezckiah  was  contrary  to  what 
Isaiah  had  promised,  it  follows  (if  the  exposition 
of  this  Kabbin  is  correct)  that  either  the  prophet, 
in  what  he  has  asserted,  has  spoken  untruly,  or 
else  that  the  text  in  the  Book  of  Kim's  is  false 
in  its  statement  of  events.  The  prophet  cannot 
deceive,  nor  can  the  text  in  Kings  be  disputed; 
therefore  the  fault  must  bo  with  your  Kabbins, 
who  seek  to  verify  in  Ilezckiah  what  is  totally 
inconsistent  with  bis  character.  And  would  you 
found  your  hopes  on  so  palpable  a  fallacy  ? 

XXXIII. 

Unable  to  evade  this  dilemma,  Eabbi  Solo- 
mon and  others  have  dared  to  vitiate  the  text  of 
Isaiah  and  Jeremiah,  in  order  to  refute  the  opin- 
ion, that  the  Messiah  was  to  be  God,  notwith- 
standing what  the  prophets  declare  to  the  con- 
trary. Your  Eabbins,  seeing  that,  however  they 
might  labor  to  explain  away  the  two  texts,  they 
could  not  keep  out  of  view  the  divinity  of  the 
Messiah,  in  order  to  maintain  themselves  and 
you  in  the  Jewish  faith,  laid  down  that  the  texts 
were  not  to  be  read  as  if  the  Messiah  was  to  bo 
called  Powerful,  Counsellor,  Prince  of  Peace,  or 
as  if  the  name  of  God  was  the  name  the  Messiah 
was  to  be  known  by,  but  as  follows:  "Dews,  For- 
tiSj  qui  est  AdmirahiliSj  Concilarius,  et  Fater  futu- 


ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


39 


ri  Scvcxdi,  vocahit  Regcm  Messiah,  Frincipem  pads;' 
as  if  the  Messiah  was  to  bear  the  name  of  the 
Prince  of  Peace:  and  that  God  was  not  to  be  the 
Messiah,  but  to  bestow  on  the  Messiah  the  title 
of  Prince  of  Peace;  and  likewise  that  the  pas- 
sage in  Jeremiah  should  not  be  read  thus— "JTbc 
est  iiomen  quod  vocabunt  eum:  Dominus  Justus  nos- 
ter/'  but  as  follows:  ''vombit  eum  Deus  Justus  jios- 
ter/'  construing  therefrom,  that  it  is  God  who 
gave  the  name,  and  that  the  Messiah  is  the  per- 
son named.     These  barbarians,  by  thus  corrupt- 
ing the  former  text,  and  substituting  vocabit  for 
vocabitur  in  Isaiah,  and  for  vocabunt  m  Jeremiah, 
have  concluded  that  the  Messiah  did  not  ascribe' 
to  himself  the  name  of  God;  but  they  deceive 
themselves,  for  all  this  labor  serves  no  other  end 
than  to  prove  their  own  falsehood  and  audacity. 
Of  this  I  shall  now  proceed  to  give  you  the  most 
ample  evidence. 

XXXIY. 

In  that  passage  of  Isaiah  where  the  word  vehi^ 
care,  meaning  vocabitur,  occurs  in  the  Hebrew, 
E^abbi  Solomon,  who  was  a  notorious  corrupter 
of  the  sacred  text,  has  audaciously  substituted 
vahycrd,  which  means  vocavit.  And  in  Jeremiah, 
where  in  the  original  icreii  is  written,  which 
means  vocabunt,  he  has  substituted  icreo,  which 
means  vocavit.  It  is  a  very  easy  matter  to  intro- 
duce such  a  corruption  in  the  Hebrew;  for,  it 
should  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  sacred  text  is 


jp 


'i 
1 


'(' 


40 


SERMON   OP  JUSTINIANO, 


always  read  without  points;  and  even  at  this  day 
the  scroll  of  the  Bible  that  is  used  in  all  your 
Synagogues  is  written  without  points;  stops  and 
punctuation  only  began  to  be  in  use  in  the  Bible 
lour  hundred  and  seventy-six  years  after  the 
birth  of  Christ,  the  first  inventors  being  Rabbi 
Jacob  Ben  Naphtali,  and  Rabbi  Aaron  Ben  As- 
ser;  the  sacred  books,  before  their  time,  having 
always  been  read  witbout  the  points.  When 
Chri.st  came,  the  Jews,  wishing  to  disprove  his 
divinity,  began  to  vitiate  the  Scriptures  by  means 
of  the  points.  Vehlcarey  that  is,  vocabitur,  and 
vahycrdj  which  signifies  vocavity  are  written  with 
the  same  letters  (the  points  alone  serving  to  dis- 
tinguish them),  and  in  like  manner  icreOj  w^hich 
means  vocavity  is  composed  of  the  same  letters  as 
icreiif  which  means  vocabunt.  In  order  to  corrupt 
the  text  in  Jeremiah,  they  took  the  letter  vaUy 
w.hich  corresponds  with  our  vowel  w,  and  remov- 
ing the  dot  which  is  placed  in  the  middle  of  that 
letter,  and  makes  icreiij  they  transferred  it  to  an- 
other letter,  so  that  the  vowel  u  changes  into  o, 
and  thereby  converts  icreii  into  icreo;  thus,  by 
the  slight  change  of  removing  a  single  point  from 
one  letter  to  another,  the  text  in  Jeremiah  has 
been  materially  altered. 

XXXY. 

In  Isaiah  the  text  has  been  altered  as  follows: 
vehicare  which  is  voca bit ur  or  vocabunt,  and  vahycrd 


I 


ARCHBISHOP  OF   CRANGANOR. 


41 


which  means  vocavity  are  both  written  with  the 
same  letters.    The  vowel  point  kamets  which  was 
under  the  coph  is  transposed,  and  what  was  vaMj^ 
care  becomes  vahycrd.    All  this  trouble  and  labor 
on  the  part  of  your  rabbins,  and  among  them  Rab- 
bi Solomon  (whose  chief  business  in  the  world 
seems  to  have  consisted  in  leading  you  into  er- 
ror), you  have  thought  fit  to  sanction.     But  wo 
shall  have  no  difficulty  in  confuting  and  exposing 
his  falsehood;  for  if  we  refer  to  the  Septnagint^ 
which  was  written  one  thousand  nine  hundred 
and  eighty-nine  years  ago,  and  about  two  hun- 
dred  and  eiglity-four  before  Christ,  and  to  the 
Targum,  written  one  thousand  seven  hundred 
and  forty-two  years  ago,  or  forty-two  years  be- 
fore the  birth  of  Christ,  we  shall  find  that  they 
both  read  vocabitur  or  vahycare  and  not  vahycrd  in 
Isaiah;  and  icreit  (which  is  vocabunt)  and  not  icreo, 
(vocavit)  in  the  text  of  Jeremiah.     Since,  then' 
Jonathan  who  wrote  in  Chaldee,  and  the  Seventy 
who  wrote  in  Greek,  agree  in  putting  vocabitur 
in  the  first  i)lace  and  vocabunt  in  the  second,  it  is 
beyond  doubt  that  they  must  have  been  thus  in 
the  original  which  they  translated.     If  you  will 
not  allow  that  it  is  so  at  the  present  day,  it  must 
follow  that  the  text  has  been  altered.     That  be- 
ing supposed — 

XXXVI. 

Tell  me  dispassionately  whom  are  we  to  follow, 
and  whom  to  believe?    Rabbi  Solomon,  who  so 


I 


i?:i 


42 


SEBMON   OF  JUSTINIANO, 


many  years  after  the  birth  of  Christ  tells  us  that 
in  these  passages  we  find  vocabit,  vahycrd,  and 
icreOy  in  order  to  support  his  theory — or  the  Se- 
venty interpreters,  who  were  selected  by  the 
Jews  exclusively  from  among  themselves  as  the 
wisest  men  the  Synagogue  could  produce,  to  ren- 
der the  Hebrew  text  into  Greek,  and  who,  not- 
withstanding they  were  separated  from  each  other, 
agree  in  attesting,  two  hundred  and  eighty-four 
years  before  the  birth  of  Christ,  thai  the  original 
text  was  vahicare  and  icreu,  as  is  proved  by  their 
rendering  the  words  as  vocabitur  and  vocabuntf 

I  again  ask — in  which  of  these  two  parties 
should  we  confide?  In  Rabbi  Solomon,  notorious 
for  the  immense  number  of  the  corruptions  of  sa- 
cred text  that  pervade  his  works,  and  who  is 
comparatively  but  of  yesterday? — or  the  Tar- 
gum,  written  forty-two  years  before  the  coming 
of  Christ,  w4iich  uses  in  the  Chaldee  vocabitur  and 
vocabuntf  as  corresponding  with  icreic  and  vahy- 
care  in  the  original  ?  Years  and  years  before  this 
rabbi  wrote,  the  text  was  always  read  one  way; 
and  he  was  the  first  to  propose  that  it  should  be 
read  differently;  can  you  then  believe  that  he 
has  delivered  to  you  the  truth?  So  many  years 
previously  to  Rabbi  Solomon's  coming  into  the 
world,  the  texts  were  rendered  in  a  different  way 
from  that  in  which  he  wishes  they  should  now 
be  read;  consequently  you  must  acknowledge 
it  to  be  the  tact  that  he  has  been  guilty  of  cor- 


ARCHBISHOP   OF  CRANGANOR.  43 

rupting  them.     With  this  demonstration  before 
you    beheve  as  you  please.     But  if  you  prefir 
Eabbi  Solomon  to  the  Targum,  and  to  the  Se 
venty,  you  will  act  in  opposition  to  that  re ve" 
once.nwh^ 

XXXVII. 

That  the  application  of  the  name  of  God  to  th« 
Mess.ah,  in  both  these  places,  p.-oves  his  divi„it 
IS  an  argument  which  you  and  your  teachers  ro' 
ject,  urg,ng  that  the  divinity  of  the  Mess  Ih  ,^ 
not  proved  by  the  name  of  God  having  been  ai! 
P  .ed  to  h,m,  inasmuch  as  this  name  is  app,  edfn 
Scnpture  to  many  created  objects;  this  is  a  rid. 
culous  notion  proceeding  either  fr'om  your  igLo" 
ranee  or  apostasy.    We  do  not  deny  that  tht 
»ames  of  God  are  applied  in  Scripture  to  an  t 
finite  number  of  creatures  rational  and  irratioL 
al,  Without  proving  thereby  that  such  creatures 
are  gods.    But  the  point  in  question  is,  whether 
we  cannot  prove  that  the  name  JehovahX^Z 
s  more  espech^lly  the  name  of  God,  and  denotes 
that  He  IS  an  Eternal  Essence,  is  never  attributed 
to  any  other  besides  Himself    If  after  thatta, 
been  shown,  we  can  demonstrate  that  this  name 
has  been  assigned  to  the  Messiah,  it  necessarZ 
follows  that  he  must  be  God.  ^ 

XXXVIII. 
If  you  are  willing  to  discover  the  truth,  let  ns 
carefully  consult  our  Scriptures  and  youra.    I„ 


44 


SEBMON   OF  JUSTINIANO, 


the  sacred  book,  ten  several  names  are  appropri- 
ated to  God.  "El,"  which  signifies  Fortcm—''^^' 
baoth,"  which  mci\n9  Lord  of  Valor  or  of  Hosts — 
"Serccie,"*  which  means  Misit  me  ad  vos — '^EU 
yon"  wliich  means  jKrct^/swrn— "Elohim,"  "Eloe," 
"Ja,"  "Adonai,"  wliich  all  mean  the  same  as  "Ja," 
which  signifies  6W—"Shaddai,"  which  means 
Omnipotent;  and  besides  these,  there  is  a  more 
special  name,  Tetragrammaton,  as  it  is  called  by 
the  Greeks,  or  the  ineffable  Name  of  God,  which 
the  Jews  call  the  name  of  four  letters,  yod^  hey 
vaVy  he.  Of  these  four  letters  or  names  is  com- 
posed the  most  sacred  name  Jehovahj  which  is 
held  so  sacred  among  your  people  that,  when  you 
invoke  the  name  of  the  Deity,  you  do  not  pre- 
sume to  utter  the  name  Jehovah  (except  it  be  the 
High-priest  on  occasion  of  certain  sacrifices),  and 
on  your  hearing  it  pronounced,  you  prostrate 
your  faces  to  the  ground.  Hence  it  comes,  that 
when  you  meet  this  name  in  writing,  you  neither 
read  nor  pronounce  it,  but  in  its  stead  you  substi- 
tute the  word  "Adonai."  Neither  you,  nor  the 
Greeks,  nor  the  Latins,  have  as  yet  discovered 
its  true  signification.  The  Latins  explain  it  by 
Deus  or  Dominus,  the  Greeks  by  Tetragrammaton, 
and  the  Hebrews  by  Adonai.    And  what  is  still 

***Serccie"  is  not  Hebrew,  and  probably  was  intended 
for  Ehyeh  meaning  /  am,— see  Ex.  iii.  14,  "I  AM  hath 
sent  me  unto  you.''  [Or  more  correctly  *'I  will  be,"  as 
Ehyeh  is  the  future,  first  person  singular  of  hayah^  to  be.] 


ARCHBISHOP  OP  CRANaANOR. 


45 


more,  you  wait  for  the  Messiah  to  come,  to  know 
how  it  should  be  pronounced;  for  you  say  that  he 
alone  is  acquainted  with  its  true  pronunciation. 
This   being  conceded,   see   what   follows:   The 
name  Jehovah  belongs  exclusively  to  God,  and 
signifies  in  the  most  explicit  manner  Self-exist- 
ence, and  as  such  cannot  be  communicated  to 
any  other  than  God  (for  with  such  a  being  alone 
is  the  attribute  of  absolute  self-existence  compati- 
ble).    So  that  the  Messiah  must  be  God;  for  this 
name  has  been  applied  to  him.    All  the  other  be- 
fore-mentioned  names,  wherewith  God  is  invoked, 
are  ascribed   to  creatures,  as  you  will   find  at 
every  step  in  the  Scriptures.     But  as  regards 
the  name  Jehovah  which  has  been  applied  to  the 
Messiah,  you  cannot  point  out  a  single  place  in 
the  Scriptures  where  it  is  ascribed  to  any  other 
being  except  to  the  Messiah,  and  to  God;  to  put 
this  point  beyond  doubt,  hear  what  Rabbi  Moses 
says  in  his  book  called  More,  chap.  vi. 

*'  Cuncta  nomina  Dei  excelsi,  quce  inveniuntur  in 
Scripturis,  ab  aliqua  certa  operatione  derivantur. 
Ad  nornen  istud,  quod  quatuor  Uteris  constat,  nomen 
est  particulare,  et  unicum  Deo  excelso,  significatque 
Essentiam  Divinam  cum  manifestd  determinatione 
ad  solum  Deum  absque  aliqua  cequi  vocatione  et  com- 
municatione  ad  alterum  qui  Deus  non  sit."  And  in 
the  same  chapter  he  adds,  "  Certe  alia  nomina  Dei 
sunt  nomina  quce  declarant  aliquam  operationem  a 
qua  derivantur.    At  verb  hoc  nomen  quatuor  litera- 


46 


SERMON   OF  JUSTINIANO, 


#: 


rum  non  est  cognitum  ah  aliqua  derivatione  et  alteri 
non  communicatur  nisi  soli  Deo."  Therefore  if  this 
name  beyond  all  others,  according  to  the  Scrij^)- 
tures  and  the  rabbins,  is  so  especially  the  attri- 
bute of  God,  and  is  incommunicable  to  any  other 
being,  this  name  having  been  given  to  the  Mes- 
siah, fully  establishes  bis  divinity;  and  your 
teachers,  who  well  know  the  truth  of  what  I  am 
stating,  purposely  confound  together  the  differ- 
ent names  of  God,  with  the  express  object  of  mis- 
leading you  on  this  very  point. 

XXXIX. 
To  conclude  this  discourse,  it  only  remains  to 
prove  the  falsehood  of  the  interpretation  of  your 
rabbins,  in  attributing  to  David  or  Zerubbabel 
the  passage  in  Jeremiah.  Observe,  my  brethren, 
that  Jeremiah  prophesied  three  hundred  and 
eighty-six  years  after  David's  death.  That  prince, 
being  dead,  could  not  return  to  life,  nor  could  he 
exist  at  a  future  time,  having  already  existed  in 
time  past;  so  that  if  David  was  the  subject  of  the 
prophecy,  the  prophet  would  not  say  that  David 
was  to  live  ysuscitabo)  but  that  he  had  lived.  He 
would  not  say  that  he  shoidd  he  called  {vocabunt) 
but  that  he  had  been  called.  He  would  not  say 
that  he  should  sit  on  the  throne  (sedebif)  but  that 
he  had  already  been  seated.  Nor  would  he  say  he 
should  be  wise  (sapiens  erit)  but  that  he  was  wise. 
He  would  not  say  that  he  should  be  king  (regna- 
bit  rex)  but  that  he  had  been  king.    He  would  not 


ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR.  47 

say  that  he  should  execute  jvLdgment  (faciei  justi. 
tiam  in  terra)  but  that  he  had  executed  judgment 
on  earth,  so  that  the  prophecy  would  imply  ac- 
cording  to  that  interpretation,  that  David,  who 
had  lived,  was  again  to  appear.     Consequently, 
the  prophecy  cannot  be  understood  to  relate  to 
David.     Much  less  can  it  be  taken  with  reference 
to  Zerubbabel,  as  may  be  shown,  not  by  exactly 
the  same  arguments  with  which  we  have  refuted 
the  hypothesis  of  its  applying  to  David,  but  by 
others  equally  convincing.     Firstly,  because  the 
name  Jehovah  was  not,  and  could  not  be  applica- 
ble to  Zerubbabel,  as  we  have  shown  you  from 
your  rabbins.     Secondly,  the  person  prophesied 
of,  was  to  be  king  (regnabit  rex).    Zerubbabel  was 
not  a  king,  whether  you  consider  him  under  the 
^abylonian  captivity  or  after  he  was  restored  to 
J  udea.    In  the  time  of  this  prince,  the  people  did 
not  live  securely  under  his  government,  which 
was  another  circumstance  that  was  to  appertain 
to  the  party  prophesied  of,  ^^et  Israel  habitabit  ad 
fiduciam;*  for  we  learn  the  direct  contrary  from 
the  Scriptures.     The  book  of  Esdras  informs  us, 
that,  after  the  people  were  restored  and  were 
living  under  the  government  of  Zerubbabel,  they 
were  m  such  a  state  of  insecurity,  that  as  they 
lifted  up  the  stones  to  build  the  temple  with  one 
hand,  they  held  the  sword  to  defend  their  works 
m  the  other.    Moreover  after  a  short  interval, 
Zerubbabel  abandoned  the  government  of  Judea 


m 


48 


SERMON   OF  JUSTINIANO, 


and  went  back  to  Babylon;  consequently  the 
prophecy  has  not  been  verified  in  Zerubbabel. 
Thus  easily  may  we  refute  the  assertions  of  your 
rabbins;  but  the  worst  is,  that,  in  spite  of  all  the 
evidence  we  can  produce,  you  remain  unwilling 
to  confess  your  error,  and  obstinately  retain  your 
belief  in  these  false  doctrines. 

XL. 

Be  persuaded,  my  brethren,  be  persuaded  to 
believe  what  your  prophets  have  told  you,  and 
cease  to  cling  to  the  absurdities  which  two  igno- 
rant rabbins  have  put  into  your  head,  and  to 
which  you  only  yield  your  belief,  that  you  may 
have  an  excuse  for  remaining  Jews.  Kesolve  to 
open  your  eyes,  and  consent  to  be  convinced  by 
the  truth;  for  you  have  too  long  allowed  your- 
selves to  be  imposed  upon  by  a  falsehood.  Ac- 
knowledge that  3'ou  cannot  obtain  freedom  so 
long  as  you  do  not  change  the  nature  of  your 
hopes;  for  the  redeemer  you  look  for  is  impossi- 
ble, because  it  is  impossible  to  have  a  Messiah 
without  his  being  both  God  and  man.  This  has 
been  foretold  you  by  the  prophets,  as  you  have 
already  heard;  and  the  like  is  affirmed  by  your 
rabbins,  as  you  shall  now  hear;  for  in  this  opin- 
ion the  most  learned  men,  your  Synagogue  ever 
had,  are  of  one  accord. 

XLI. 

Eabbi  Hosea,  in  the  opinion  of  some,  or  Rabbi 
Simeon  ben  Jochay,  in  the  opmion  of  others,  who 


ARCHBIsnOP   OF  CRANGANQR.  49 

flourished  many  years  before  the  birth  of  Christ 
being  two  of  the  most  ancient  rabbins  of  the  iy. 
nagogue-ia  expounding  the  prophet  Hosea 
speaks  t  us.y^Woe  to  the  impious  and  homi  da( 
Jevvs  who  shall  murder  the  Messiah,  the  Son  of 
God;  for  there  be  those  who  when  God  sendsTnto 

sms,  shall  resist  and  put  him  to  death  when  he 

comes.      <^  Dens  sanctus  et  benedictus  mittet  Filium 

sanctum  suum  et  came  Inunana  se  induct ,  vceUU^Z 

pnskomcidis  Israel^  o,  quorum  arnorcrn  rnitttZs 

Fchum  suum^ut  eis  pcccata  dimUtat  quia  propter 

pravas  suas  opiniones  crunt  rebellcs  hi  MeJce  It 

ingenti  iracundicc  perciti  cum  Occident:*     This  is 

what  your  rabbi  tells  you  you  would  do  to  the 

Messiah  who  was  the  Son  of  God.     And  what 

more  do  we  say?    If  the  Messiah  was  the  Son  of 

God,  and  this  Son  of  God  clothed  himself  with 

human  flesh,  according  to  what  this  Rabbi  has 

acknow  edged  so  long  before  the  Messiah  appear- 

ed  must  not  the  Messiah  have  been  both  God 
and  ^,   ,    I     3,  ,^^  ^^  ^^  ^^^^^  God 

not  s  ay  h.m;  but  in  so  far  as  he  was  man,  you 
did  slay  him.  Thus  the  Messiah  was  both  God 
and  man. 

XLII. 

Babbi  Haecadosh,  whom  by  distinction  you 
call  the  Holy  Rabbi,  and  who  flourished  one  huJ! 

Chnst  (fur  he  lived  m  the  time  of  the  Maccabees), 

VI     lie 


50 


SERMON   OF  JUSTINIANO, 


in  his  celebrated  work,  called  in  the  Hebrew 
Gala  Razeya,  which  signifies  the  revealing  of  se- 
crets, speaking  of  the  Messiah,  in  his  exposition 
of  the  9th  chapter  of  the  prophet  Isaiah,  which 
we   have  just    explained,   writes   thus: — '^Quia 
Messias  Deus  et  Homo  futurus  est,  ideo  vocatus  est 
Emmanuelj  quod  interpretatus  nobiscum  Deus." — 
"Because  the  Messiah  lias  to  be  both  God  and 
man,  therefore  he  shall    be  called    Emmanuel, 
which  means  God  with  us."  He  repeats  this  truth 
still  more  clearly  in  another  passage,  as  you  will 
find  on  referring  to  a  Hebrew  work  which  you 
call  The  Gates  of  Light: — "i?ex  Messias  componi- 
tur  ex  Divinitate  et  Ilumanitatey  et  in  substantia 
Megis  Messice  inveniuntur  duce  filiationes  quarum 
una  est  Divinitatis,  qua  Dei  filius  est,  altera  erit 
humanitatiSy  qua  erit  filius  prophetissce.    In  Messia 
substantia  Divinitatis  distincta  erit   a  substantia 
humanitatis  et  e  contra.     Qua;  duo  simul  juncta 
sunt  in  Messia."    "The  King  Messiah,"  says  this 
rabbi,  "is  composed  both  of  humanity  and  di- 
vinity; for  Messiah  has  two  filiations,  one  par- 
taking of  divinity,  by  virtue  whereof  he  is  the 
Son  of  God:  the  other  filiation  as  of  the  nature 
of  humanity,  and  by  virtue  of  this  ho  will  be 
the  son  of  the  prophetess.     The  Messiah  consists 
of  two  substances,  each  different  from  the  other. 
One  is  divine,  the  other  human.     But  these  two 
Bubstances,in  themselves  distinct,  become  united 
in  the  Messiah. 


ARCHBISHOP   OF   CRANGANOR.  51 

The  prophets  and  rabbins  who  lived  before  the 
advent  of  Christ  explicitly  declared  that  the  Mes- 
siah was  to  be  both  God  and  man;  and  it  was 
only  HI  consequence  of  your  stubborn  resolution 
to  remain  Jews,  that  you  denied  Christ  to  bo  the 
M^^siah,  and  resolved  to  look  out  for  another  of 
a  character  different  from  what  your  prophets 
and  rabbins  had  previously  laid  down.    From  all 
this,  It  becomes  evident  that  the  coming  of  the 
Messiah  is  an  impossibility.     The  Scriptures  can- 
not  err.  nor  can  your  rabbins,  men  enlightened 
by  God  (who  before  the  advent  of  Christ  declared 
these  truths),  be  guilty  of  falsehood.     Therefore 
Messiah  cannot  come  as  simply  man;  consequent- 
ly.  the  Messiah  whom  you  so  anxiously  expect  is 
impossible,  because  the  essential  attributes  are 
wanting  in  him  which  God  revealed  the  Messiah 
should  possess.     For  these  reasons  your  redemp- 
tion  cannot  take  place,  seeing  that  the  Messiah 
IS  impossible,  who,  according  to  your  expecta- 
tions,  18  to  redeem  you.     Thus  your  tears  are 
fruitless,  for  your  hopes  do  not  rest  upon  one  who 
can  put  an  end  to  your  captivity.    Thus  it  is  that 
you  find  yourselves,  and  must  remain  till  the  end 
of  the  world,  in  the  condition  in  which  we  now 
see  you  (which  is  exactly  such  as  your  Isaiah 
prophesied)  without  there  being  any  one  to  re- 
deem  or  ransom  yon.-^<^Ipse  autempopulus  direp^ 
tusy  et  vastatus,  laqueus  juvenum  omnes,  et  in  domi- 
bus  carcerum  absconditi  sunt;  facti  sunt  in  rapinam 


52 


SERMON   OF   JUSTINIANO, 


li 


» 


nec  qui  est  eruat;  in  direptionenij  nee  est  qui  dicat: 
Bedder 

XLIII. 

Impossible  as  it  is,  that  he  whom  you  expect 
can  be  the  Messiah,  for  want  of  the  essential  at- 
tributes which  were  to  belong  to  him,  the  event 
is  rendered  equally  so  by  the  period  in  which  the 
true  Messiah  was  to  appear;  for  that  period  is 
expired  and  can  never  recur.  The  time  for  the 
coming  of  the  Messiah  was  accomplished  and  ful- 
filled when  Christ  came;  and  any  farther  fulfil- 
ment is  obviously  impossible.  Unhappy  people, 
whose  hopes,  not  only  the  nature  of  the  object, 
but  the  time  appointed  for  its  fulfilment,  alike 
conspire  to  defeat. 

XLIY. 

To  convince  you  of  this  truth,  satisfactory 
proof  may  be  adduced  from  the  prophecy  of  Ja- 
cob, in  Genesis,  chap,  xlix.,  when,  desirous  to 
point  out  to  his  sons  the  time  of  the  advent  of 
the  Messiah,  he  tells  them  that  the  time  of  his 
coming  would  be  when  the  sceptre  should  fjiil  in 
your  nation.  Now  in  fact  it  did  fail  when  Christ 
came,  for  Ilerod  the  Ascalonite  held  the  sceptre. 
Supposing  that  you  should  now  or  hereafter,  bo 
told  by  some  sinful  or  ignorant  Jew,  that  this 
text  is  not  a  convincing  argument,  for  that  long 
before  the  advent  of  Christ,  the  sceptre  had  failed 
in  Jeconiah:  this  can  only  be  said  by  one  totally 
ignorant  of  sacred  history;  for  after  Jeconiah, 


ARCHBISHOP   OF  CRANOANOR.  53 

Josias  reigned;  and  although  after  this  prince, 
the  title  ot  king  was  lost  to  the  nation  until  the 
time  of  Herod,  still  the  government  of  the  Jews 
was  preserved  with  equal  authority  in  the  per- 
sons  of  their  princes,  as  is  most  clearly  set  forth 
n  the  Scriptures.     To  prove  still  farther  this  ar- 
tide,  the  prophecy  of  Daniel  in  chap.  ix.  gives 
evident  demonstration  that  his  weeks,  however 
you  may  attempt  to  dispute  the  computation, 
are   already   accomplished.      There   is   scarcely 
a  sermon  on  the  same  subject,  in  which  these 
two  texts  are  not  brought  under  discussion;  but 
in  order  that  you  may  not  allege  that  we  Catho- 
ics  are  so  deficient  in  proofs  for  your  conviction 
that  we  are  obliged  to  make  the  same  arL^iments 
serve  many  times,  I  will  not  allow  myself  to 
dwell  on  the  above  texts,  but  nhall  be  enabled  by 
others  of  equal  evidence,  to  show  you  the  futilf- 
ty  of  your  hopes,  and  to  convince  you  that  the 
t^ne  has  past  which  you  are  expecting,  under 
the  belie    that  the  Messiah  has  not  yet  come, 
but  is  still  to  appear.  ' 

The  prophet  Daniel,  chap,  ii.,  relates  .Vebu- 
chadnezzar's  dream,  wherein  he  saw  a  statue  of 
which  the  head  was  of  gold,  the  arms  of  silver 
Its  belly  of  brass,  its  feet  of  iron  and  clay      He 
also  saw  a  small  stone  thrown  from  a  hill,  which 
striking  the  feet  of  the  statue,  reduced  it  to  now' 
der.    The  head  of  the  statue  represented  the 


r 


*i 


54 


SERMON   OF  JU8TINIAN0, 


empire  of  the  Chaldeans;  the  arms,  that  of  the 
Meclesand  Persians;  the  belly,  that  of  the  Greeks; 
and  the  feet,  that  of  the  Romans.  Such  is  the  in- 
terpretation given  by  your  prophets  and  rabbins. 
The  last  named  empire,  namely,  the  Roman,  (con- 
tinues Daniel,  chap.  ii.  3,)  will  be  mixed,  one  part 
being  iron,  and  the  other  part  clay.  On  this  ac- 
count, although  the  clay  may  mingle  with  the 
iron,  the  two  parts  can  never  unite;  for,  how- 
ever closely  mixed  up,  they  will  not  adhere  to 
each  other,  inasmuch  as  the  clay  will  not  amal- 
gamate with  the  iron,  nor  tlie  iron  with  the  clay, 
^^Commiscebuntur  sed  non  adharebiuit  sihi."  And 
this  was  verified;  for  the  Roman  empire,  which 
was  typified  by  the  iron,  and  the  clay,  which  was 
the  kingdom  of  the  Jews  (says  your  Rabbi  Joao 
Baptista  Deste,  who,  after  recognising  the  error 
of  your  belief,  turned  Catholic),  although  mixed, 
did  not  unite;  for  the  same  power  was  not  pos- 
sessed by  the  clay,  which  was  your  kingdom,  as 
by  the  iron,  which  was  that  of  the  Romans.  A 
like  exposition  has  been  given  by  your  Rabbi 
Fabiano  de  Tioghi  (who  also  became  converted 
to  Christ  after  being  expelled  from  the  83'na- 
gogue),  in  his  book  named  DUdogo  de  la  Fede. 
Thus,  the  prophet  says  that  these  two  powers 
should  be  intermingled  {Commihcehuntuf),  but 
should  not  be  united  (sed  non  adhcerebunt  sibi). 
Allowing  that  the  Jews  and  the  Romans  confede- 
rated together  as  friends,  they  ever  preserved  a 


-\ 


ARCUBISnop   OF  CRANGANOB.  55 

separate  government;  for,  until  the  reign  of  He- 

he  zr.  irT""'''' ''  •''"^^'»  ''^'  held  b; 

tno  Jt^vs.     The  Eomans  became  your  allies  in 

ler^ttti'rr :;::"/ '-' '-  ^•'^"■^-  >•- 

♦oKi-  1     ,    .         ^^^'^^nt'c;  for  among  you  was  p« 
tabhshed  the  worship  of  the  true  Go^d  but  Imont 
the  Komans  a  blind  idolatry     ThrL  rZ^^ 
certain  and  admit  of  no  doub^^r Xte  1 1^ 

in  the  Book  of  Maccabees,  where  we  are  inform 
ed  of  the  confederacy  you  made  with  the  BomanT 
while  you  still  continued  to  maintain  the  obser' 
vnnces  of  your  law,  and  the  governmen    of  X 
kingdom,  until  the  friendship  between  yoIZ 
coming  relaxed,  the  Eomans  sent  Herod  to  1 
vern  you,  in  company  with  others  in  their  conT 
dence;  and  subsequently  wishing  to  make  an  end 
of  you,  sent  to  destroy  your  city 

XLVI. 
At  the  time  that  the  iron  of  the  Roman  empire 
^as  mingled  with  the  clay  of  the  kingdom  of'^^^hl 
Jews,  a  small  stone,  says  the  prophej  destroyed 
the  iron  and  the  day ;  and  in  the!r  pi;ce  a  W 
dom  arose   that  should  never  be  destroyed  S 
surrendered  to  any  other  power,  for  its  dominion 
was  to  be  throughout  the  world,'and  its  ru  We^ 

1   «r>r' '"  ^"''"'■'' ""  '^'^^--'^y  pan  " 

it>       In  dtebus  regnorum  illorum  suscitabit  Deus 


D' 


S6 


SERMON   OF  JUSTINIANO, 


cceli  rcgmm  quod  in  cdernum  non  dissipahitur,  et 
alteripopido  non  traddur.    Cominuet  autem  et  con- 
sumet  universa  regna  hcec,  et  ipsum  stabit  in  (ntcr- 
numr    This  is  the  proi)hecy  trom  which  we  col- 
lect, that  the  empires  of  the  Chaldeans,  Persians, 
and  Greeks  being  destroyed,  but  the  Koman  em- 
pire  still  existing  (that  is  to  say,  the  iron)  min- 
gled with  the  kingdom  of  the  Jews  (that  is  the 
clay),  another  kingdom  or  empire  was  to  arise 
that  should  destroy  both  these  powers;  and  that 
the  empire  which  should  succeed  the  two  so  de- 
stroyed, was  to  hold  perpetual  dominion,  unaf- 
fected by  time,  and  should  never  pass  into  other 
hands,  since  the  stone  that  destroyed  the  several 
empires,  in  order  to  establish  the  one  that  was 
to  arise  from  their  ruins,  would  increase  to  such 
an  extent  that  its  bulk  would  fill  the  whole  earth. 
«  Consumet  universa  regna  h(^c,  et  ipsum  stabit  in 
(Bternum ;  secundum   quod  vidisti,  quod  de  rnonte 
abscissus  est  lapis  sine  manibus,  et  comminuet  tes- 
tam  etferrum,  et  ats  et  argentum  et  aurewm." 

XLVII. 
That  this  prophecy  of  Daniel  treats  of  the  Mes- 
siah, is  a  settled  point  among  your  rabbins :  so  it 
is  acknowledged  in  the  book  Midrash  Tehilim, 
^vhich  is  a  commentary  on  the  Psalms,  in  the  ex- 
position  of  Psalm  xvii.  44,  45.  "  Quando  Messias 
veniet,  non  erunt  dicentes  canticum,  donee  cadat  co- 
ram ipso  habens,  digitos,  id  est.regnum  Eomanorum 
de  quo  dictum  est  Daniel  secundo;  et  digitus  ex  parte 


ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


67 


ferrei,  et  ex  parte  teste,  ex  parte  regnum  solidum  et 
€x  parte  frivolum.  In  diebus  regnorum  illorum  sta* 
tuet  Deus  cceli  regnum  quod  in  ceternum.  Iste  est  rex 
Messias  stent  dictum  est  in  Bereshith  Eabba." 

The  same  we  read  in  Bereshith  liabbd,  in  the 
commentary  on  Gen.  xlii.  '<Eex  verb  nonus  est  ipse 
Caesar  Augustus,  qui  universo  orbe  imperavit,  sicut 
dictum  est  Daniel  secundo,  et  regnum  quartum  erit 
forte  sicut  fcrrum.  Rex  decimus  est  Messias  qui 
regnabitafine  mundi,  usque  adfinem  .gus,  sicut  dic- 
tum est,  lapis  quipercussit  statuam,  replenit  universam 
terram/' 

The  same  thing  is  affirmed  by  Eabbi  Naham, 
Eabbi  Moyses  Hadarsan  and  Eabbi  Soadias  in  the 
same  place,  ''Lains  qui  percussit  statuam  est  reg- 
num Messiah  filii  David."  Now  it  being  admit- 
ted, that  this  interpretation  is  written  in  your 
books,  and  acknowledged  by  your  rabbins,  we 
will  proceed  to  give  you  a  clear  explanation  of 
this  your  prophecy. 

XLyjII. 
The  Messiah,  according  to  what  the  prophet 
says,  was  to  come  when  the  Eoman  empire  should 
be  still  mixed  up  with  the  Jews;  and  the  advent 
of  the  Messiah  was  to  destroy  equally  the  clay  of 
the  Jews,  and  the  iron  of  the  Eomans;  for  out  of 
the  ruins  of  these  two  kingdoms  the  kingdom  of 
the  Messiah  was  to  arise,  which  was  to  be  ever- 
lasting and  to  spread  throughout  the  world. 
Kow  either  this  prophecy  must  be  false,  which 

a 


5B 


SERMON   OP  JUSTINIAN O, 


you  will  not  assert  (for  Daniel  was  a  true  pro- 
phet), or  the  period  for  the  Messiah's  coming 
must  bo  already  passed^  seeing  that  the  Roman 
empire  is  not  at  this  day  mixed  with  the  king- 
dom of  the  Jews,  nor  their  kingdom  with  that 
empire;  for  both  these  powers  have  been  destroy- 
ed. If  this  is  denied,  you  will  be  driven  to  main- 
tain, either  that  these  two  powers  still  exist  uni- 
ted, or  that  the  Messiah  did  not  come  during  the 
period  when  the  mixture  of  the  llomans  and  the 
Jews  continued. 

If  you  admit  that  the  Messiah  was  not  to  como 
during  that  time,  your  prophet  speaks  falsely, 
which  surely  you  will  not  admit;  and  your  rab- 
bins must  have  also  deceived  you,  which  you  will 
be  equally  unwilling  to  acknowledge.     If  you  al- 
lege that  these  two  powers  are  still  flourishing 
and  under  a  joint  government,  it  will  be  obliga- 
tory on  you  to  show  us  whereabouts  this  king- 
dom exists,  and  in  what  part  of  Judea  or  of  the 
world  at  this  day,  you  still  hold  dominion.     You 
will  have  to  give  the  lie  to  all  the  world  and  to 
yourselves;  for  you  and  every  body  else  are  well 
aware  that  your  kingdom  was  destroyed  sixteen 
hundred  and  thirty-two  years  ago,  and  that  your 
dominion  is  at  an  end  in  Judea;  nor  is  there  any 
part  of  the  earth  where  you  now  hold  rule.     It 
is  evident,  therefore,  that  you  have  now  none  of 
these  things  remaining  which  were  to  exist  until 
the  birth  of  the  Messiah.    Then  how  can  you  ex- 


ARCHBISHOP  OP  CRANGANOR.  59 

pect  the  Messiah  to  come  afler  it  has  been  proved 
that  he  has  already  api>eared?    The  Eoman  em- 
pire mixed  with  yours  is  passed  away,  and  not  a 
vestige  of  your  kingdom  remains.    The  kingdom 
that  was  to  succeed  these  two  powers  has  been 
es^iblished  for   a  long  period  of  years,  and  has 
diffused  itself  throughout  Europe,  Asia,  Africa 
and  America.     It   follows  then  that  the  time 
which  the  prophet  assigned  for  the  eomino-  of  tho 
Messiah  is  past:  and  being  past  cannot  be  expect- 
ed back  again.     Thus  your  expectations  are  in 
direct  variance  with  the  period  assigned  for  that 
event. 

XLIX. 

There  exists  only  one  difficulty  in  this  expla- 
nation; but  this  difficulty  arises  from  the  scanty 
knowledge  you  have  of  the  Scriptures.     By  this 
prophecy  we  learn,  that  the  Messiah,  when  he 
should  come,  was  to  found  his  own  kingdom  by  de- 
stroying the  kingdom  of  the  Jews  and  the  Eo- 
man empire.     But  the  latter  still  subsists,  and 
IS  not  destroyed;  consequently  it  would  seem  as 
if  the  period  for  tho  advent  of  the  Messiah  had 
not  yet  arriv<.d.     This  argument  proceeded  from 
the  inflinious  Ilenriques,  called  Miguel  Henriques 
among  us  while  he  pretended  to  be  a  Catholic, 
and  Michael  Ilenriques  among  you,  after  he  de^ 
clared  himself  a  Jew,  and  as  such  suffered  pun- 
kshment  in  this  city  on  the  eleventh  of  May,  1682. 
That  such  an  opinion  has  become  current  amongst 


60 


SERMON   or  JUSTINIANO, 


you  is  the  fault  of  your  Toluntary  blindness,  for 
you  voluntarily  adopt  a  false  interpretation  of 
the  sacred  text.  The  Messiah  was  not  to  destroy 
the  Roman  empire  in  a  physical  sense;  for,  had 
the  prophet  spoken  of  such  a  kind  of  destruction, 
it  is  very  evident  he  would  have  committed  a 
great  absurdity  in  affirming  that  a  small  stone, 
and  which  fell  without  hands  from  a  mountain, 
was  to  annihilate  a  power  whose  dominion  ex- 
tended throughout  the  world,  and  that  the  same 
Btone  should  afterwards  itself  grow  into  a  moun- 
tain to  fill  the  whole  earth.  The  prophet  then 
spoke  of  a  spiritual  destruction,  and  the  annihi- 
lation of  the  religion  and  idolatry  which  the  Eo- 
mans  practised.  With  the  advent  of  Christ,  idol- 
atry ceased  in  all  the  countries  into  which  the  Ro- 
mans had  carried  their  religious  worship;  and 
thus  the  religion  of  the  Romans  was  extinguish- 
ed throughout  the  world,  so  that,  on  Christ's 
coming,  their  empire  was  spiritually  destroyed. 
I  will  now  proceed  with  additional  arguments  in 
evidence  of  this  truth. 

L. 
The  Messiah  was  to  destroy  the  Roman  em- 
pire, as  we  learn  from  the  prophecy,  in  order  to 
found  his  own.  But  the  empire  of  the  Messiah 
was  to  be  spiritual;  therefore  the  destruction 
which  was  to  precede  it  must  be  so  too.  I  will 
prove  the  major  of  this  syllogism,  which  alono 
requires  proof.     Tho  kingdom  of  the  Messiah 


ARcnBisnop  OP  crangakor.  61 

according  to  the  prophet,  was  to  be  everlasting, 
''Stabit  in  ceternumJ'  It  was  never  to  end,  for  it 
was  never  to  be  destroyed,  "7/i  (vfernum  non  dissi^ 
pabitiiT."  It  was  not  to  descend  to  others,  ''Alteri 
non  iradeturr  l^o  temporal  or  material  object 
can  be  prevented  from  descending  to  others,  or 
fail  to  come  to  an  end. 

The  kingdom  of  the  Messiah,  which  was  to  be 
eternal  and  perpetual  (for  it  was  never  to  devolve 
ui^on  others),  could  not  mean  a  temporal  king- 
dom. Consequently  it  must  have  been  a  spirit- 
ual destruction  of  the  Roman  empire  which  was 
to  be  effected  by  the  Messiah,  since  the  kingdom 
of  the  Messiah  that  was  to  follow  this  destruction 
was  spiritual.  The  fact  is,  that  the  spiritual  do- 
minion of  the  Roman  empire  absolutely  ceased 
on  the  advent  of  Christ;  for  the  idolatry  of  the 
Roman  empire  terminated  throughout  the  world 
on  his  coming. 

Thus  Sophonias  prophesied.  Sophon.  chapter 
XX.  V.  17.  ''Horribilis  Dominus  et  attenuabit  om7ies 
deos  fence,"  This  is  also  admitted  in  your  Tal- 
mud, in  the  book  Zohar.  Rabbi  Moses  of  Egypt 
contends  for  the  same  thing,  affirming  that  Je- 
sus of  2^azereth  was  a  good  man,  because  he  put 
an  end  to  idolatry  throughout  the  world:  ''Jesus 
JSTazarenus  fuit  vir  bonus,  et  destruxit  idolorum  ado- 
rationem."  Therefore,  if,  according  to  your  rab- 
bins, your  Talmud,  and  your  prophet  Sophonias, 
this  was  the  kind  of  destruction  that  the  Mes- 

G* 


62 


SERMON   OF  JUSTINIANO, 


siah  was  to  eifect  when  ho  came,  and  which  the 
true  Messiah,  Jesns  Christ,  actually  did  effect: 
it  follows  that  the  destruction  of  the  Eoman  em- 
pire, predicted  by  Daniel,  was  of  a  similar  cha- 
racter, and  must  have  therefore  been  intended  in 
a  spiritual  sense. 

LI. 
In  order  more  thoroughly  to  convince  you,  I 
will  treat  all  the  evidence  in  the  very  way  that 
you  have  adopted  as  most  favorable  to  your  own 
erroneous  views,  and  will  be  even  more  liberal 
than  your  commentators  who  have  treated  upon 
this  passage.     I  am  willing  to  grant  that  the 
Messiah   was  to   bring  a  temporal   destruction 
on  the  Koman  empire,  and  will  show  you  as 
clearly  as  the  light  at  noon-day  that  this  tem- 
poral destruction  has  already  come  to  pass;  for, 
after  so  many  victories  gained  by  the  Turks,  and 
the  repeated  triumphs  of  its  enemies,  how  can  it 
bo  asserted  of  this  empire  that  it  still  flourish- 
es?   The  Eoman  empire,  as  long  as  it  endured, 
held  dominion  throughout  the  world,  subjected 
kingdoms,  exacted  obedience  from  princes,  and 
exercised  universal  jurisdiction.    Kothing  of  this 
any  longer  exists,  as  you  must  yourselves  allow. 
This  is  sufficient  to  show  that  the  Eoman  empire 
is  already,  even  in  a  material  sense,  destroyed. 
This  government,  to  which  in  former  days  the 
"whole  world  was  tributary,  now  possesses  so 
small  a  revenue,  that  deducting  what  arises  from 


ARCHBISnOP   OF   CRANGANOR. 


63 


conquest  or  inheritance,  which  is  the  appanage 
of  the  reigning  imperial  house  (not  of  the  empire), 
that  which  remains  is  not  sufficient  for  the  main- 
tenance  of  the  emperor,  I  will  not  say  with  the 
dignity  due  to  his  rank,  but  even  as  a  private  no- 
bleman; for  if  they  were  at  this  day  to  elect  an 
emperor  who  happened  not  to  possess  property 
of  his  own,  he  would  be  unable  to  maintain  him- 
self  with  all  the  revenue  the  empire  could  furnish. 
This  is  an  evident  truth,  and  shows  that  the 
temporal  dominion  of  the  Eoman  empire  is  of- 
fectually  destroyed.     How  then  can  you  hope 
that  the  Messiah  is  still  to  come  when  this  fact 
proves  that  he  has  already  been?     It  can  only 
be  from  your  reluctance  to  relinquish  your  vi- 
sionary hopes,  that  you  employ  these  futile  argu- 
ments,  and  because  you  have  no  better  reply  at 
your  command,  but  are  still  at  all  hazard  deter- 
mined to  remain  Jews;  it  would  cost  you  less 
trouble  to  renounce  the  authority  of  your  pro- 
phots,  than  to  have  recourse  to  these  miserable 
evasions.     However,  if  you  are  indifferent  to  the 
voice  of  your  prophets,  you  will  perhaps  attend 
to  what  your  rabbins  affirm;  for  I  wish  to  show 
you  by  the  doctrines  of  your  own  teachers,  that 
the  advent  of  the  Messiah  is  an  event  not  still 
to  be  expected,  but  one  already  past. 

LII. 
Consult  your  Talmud,  Treatises  Sahat  and  San^ 
hedrin,  and  there  you  will  find  that  Rabbi  Tan- 


\¥' 


u 


SERMON  OF  JL'STINIANO, 


I 


buma  asks  the  reason  why  tlio  Hebrew  word 
Lcmarbe  is  used  by  the  prophet  Isaiah,  chapter 
ix.,  to  express  ^^midtipUcandxun  ejus  imperium," 
and  why  the  final  D  (Mem)  is  placed  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  Lemarbej  when  it  is  contrary  to  usage 
to  put  such  letter  in  the  middle  of  any  other  He- 
brew word.  No  one  has  yet  been  found  who  could 
solve  this  question;  and  accordingly  it  is  said  in 
your  Talmud,  that  he  heard  a  voice  from  heaven 
answering  him  thus,  Eazi-liy  Razi-li,  which  Hebrew 
words  translated  into  Latin  mean  ^^Secretum  meim 
mihi;'*  '^Secretum  meum  mihi;"  or.  My  secret  is  my 
own;  My  secret  is  my  own.  It  is  assented  to  by 
many  of  your  teachers  that  from  the  time  of  Isai- 
ah's prophecy  in  chapter  ix.,  until  the  advent  of 
the  Messiah,  a  period  of  six  hundred  years  was 
to  elapse.  Now  let  us  see  how  many  years  have 
really  elapsed  since  that  prophecy  down  to  the 
present  time,  and  when  these  six  hundred  years 
were,  or  will  be,  fully  completed,  in  order  that 
we  may  discover  whether  your  3Iessiah  has  al- 
ready come,  or  is  still  to  come,  as  calculated  by 
your  rabbins.  The  better  to  convince  you,  I 
will  follow  no  other  chronology  than  that  adopt- 
ed by  them. 

LIII. 
The  date  of  this  prophecy  was  in  the  fourth 
year  of  King  Ahaz,  reckoning  from  which  time 
down  to  the  eleventh  year  of  King  Zedekiah,  ac- 
cording to  the  computation  of  your  Babbi  Salo- 


ARCHBISnOP  OF   CRANGANOR. 


65 


mon,  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  had  elapsed. 
In  that  year,  the  first  temple  was  burnt,  and  you 
were  carried  captive  into  Babylon.     From  the 
destruction  of  the  first  temple  to  the  destruction 
of  the  second,  by  the  account  of  that  same  rabbi, 
four  hundred  and  ninety  years  had  passed,  which 
number  added  to  one  hundred  and  fifty,  makes 
six  hundred  and  forty  one  years.     From  this  we 
must  deduct  the  fort3'-oiie  years  since  the  death 
of  Christ.  Consequently,  agreeably  to  the  compu- 
tation of  this  rabbi,  the  year  in  which  Christ  died 
completed  the  six  hundred  years  elapsed  since 
the  prophecy  of  Isaiah;  and  this  was  the  period 
in  which  the  Messiah  was  to  come.     It  is  now 
one  thousand  six  hundred  and  thirty-two  years 
since  the  time  when  Titus  destro^^ed  your  city. 
Between  that  period  and  the  fourth  year  of  Ahaz 
six  hundred  years  intervene,  so  that  from  the 
prophecy  until  the  present  day  we  may  reckon  two 
thousand  two  hundred  and  thirty-two  years;  de- 
duct the  six  hundred,  and  the  advent  of  the  Mes- 
,siah,  conformably  to  your  Talmud,  should  have 
taken  place  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  thirty- 
two  years  ago.    And  thus,  although  one  thou- 
sand six  hundred  and  thirty-two  years,  by  your 
own  computation,  must  have  taken  place  since 
bis  advent,  you  still  go  on  expecting  him  to  come. 
Moreover,  you  do  this  in  open  contradiction  to 
your  Talmud,  which  no  one  can  venture  to  op- 
pose without  incurring  the  penalty  of  death; 


ft' 

ft- 


1^    .' 


I 


66 


SERMON   OF  JUSTINIAXO, 


such   being  the   punishment   awarded  by  that 
book,  to  those  who  deny  any  part  of  its  contents. 

LIY. 
I  invite  you  to  consult  the  Talmud,  book  San- 
hedriii  Guazit,  chapter  Col  hrad,  and  you  will 
there  see  the  period  which  your  rabbins  cabalis- 
tically  assign  for  the  advent  of  the  Messiah. 
The  Jews  have  two  and  twenty  letters,  by  which 
they  reckon  their  luimbers.  When  they  are 
placed  in  a  manner  that  docs  not  make  sense, 
like  our  ABC,  they  stand  for  numerals.  The 
first  letter  k  (Aleph),  corresponding  to  our  A, 
means  the  number  One.  The  second  3  (Beth), 
means  Two.  The  third  j  (Ghimel),  Three;  and 
so  forth  to  "•  (Yod),  which  means  Ten.  The  next 
letter  2  (Caph),  means  Twenty ;  and  so  on  increas- 
ing by  tens  to  p  (Koph),  which  is  One  Hundred; 
1  (Eesch)  means  Two  Hundred;  vf  (Shin)  Three 
Hundred;  and  r»  (Tauv),  the  last  letter,  stands  for 
Four  Hundred.  The  Hebrews  make  use  of  all 
these  letters,  not  only  in  common  writing,  but 
in  expressing  numbers  in  arithmetic  and  in  all » 
computations  relating  to  the  Messiah.  They  be- 
gin with  taking  the  first  and  last  letters,  Aleph 
and  Tauv;  and  the  intermediate  ones  between 
Aleph  and  Mem  joined  to  these  three  make  in  all 
six  hundred  and  five,  so  that  the  final  or  closed 
D,  as  we  have  already  stated,  contains  within  it- 
self the  secret  of  the  Messiah's  advent,  indicating 
as  it  does  the  six  hundred  years  corresponding 


I 


ARCHBISnOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


67 


to  that  event.     These  have  already  elapsed;  and 
consequently  the  Messiah  has  already  appeared. 

LY. 

Eabbi  Moses]  Ben  Maimon,  in  his  celebrated 
epistle  to  the  rabbins  of  Africa,  states,  that  by  an 
ancient  tradition  of  the  Hebrews,  the  Messiah 
was  to  appear  in  the  year^  of  the  world  four 
thousand  four  hundred  and  seventy-four.  "We 
are  now,  according  to  your  computation,  in  the 
year  five  thousand  four  hundred  and  sixty-five 
from  the  creation  of  the  world,  so  that  if  the 
Messiah  was  to  apjwar  in  four  thousand  four 
hundred  and  seventy  four,  it  mu&t  be  nine  hun- 
dred  and  ninety-one  years  since  he  came,  and  con- 
sequently you  are  expecting  him  all  this  time  after 
he  has  already  been. 

LYI. 

In  the  Talmud,  chapter  i7b?e/i,  in  the  Sanhedrin 
Guazity  as  well  as  in  Sedar  Holanij  we  find  it  writ- 
ten, that  the  world  is  to  endure  only  six  thousand 
years:  '' Jlachma  mundihujus  annoru?n series  mille 
et  non  plurum  persistere  debet."  So  also  affirm  your 
rabbins,  according  to  ancient  tradition,  originat- 
ing with  the  disciples  of  Elijah.  The  first  two 
thousand  years  with  the  law  of  nature  and  with- 
out a  written  law;  the  second  two  thousand  years 
with  the  law  of  Moses;  and  the  last  two  thousand 
years  with  the  law  of  the  Messiah.  The  two  thou- 
sand years  under  natural  law  have  long  since  pass- 


,  / 


08 


SERMON  OP  JtJSTINlANO, 


ed  away ;  the  two  thousand  years  under  the  wrl  t  ten 
law  are  also  passed;  consequeutly  the  two  thou- 
sand under  the  law  of  tlie  Messiah  alone  are 
wanting.  According  to  the  computation  adopt- 
ed  by  your  people  in  calcuUiting  the  age  of  the 
world  (which  puts  us  in  the  year  five  thousand 
four  hundred  and  sixty-five  from  the  creation  of 
the  world),  we  are  now  in  the  final  two  thousand 
that  belong  to  the  Messiah,  out  of  which  five 
hundred  and  thirty-five  have  already  expired. 
Consequently,  your  own  reckoning  shows  that 
you  are  expecting  One  who  came  five  hundred 
and  thirty-five  years  ago. 

LYII. 
Eabbi  Elijah  son  of  Rabbi  Judas,  a  Talmudist 
of  the  highest  authority  with  you,  writes  thus: 
<^jVo/i  minus  octoginta  quinquejubiUva  mundus  stabit, 
et  in  ultimo  veniet  Messias,"  The  world  then  is  to 
exist  during  eighty-five  jubilees;  and  in  the  last 
the  Messiah  is  to  appear.  Your  Eabbi  Salomon, 
in  explaining  these  eighty-five  jubilees  of  the 
world's  duration,  says,  according  to  Scripture, 
that  each  jubilee  consists  of  fifty  years,  and  the 
whole  together  amount  to  four  thousand  two 
hundred  and  fifty:  ^'Octaginta  jubil(Ea  faciunt  «n- 
nos  quatuor  mille  ducentos  et  quinquaginta  annos." 
By  this  computation  the  world  is  to  exist  four 
thousand  two  hundred  and  fifty  years,  and  in  the 
last  jubilee,  that  is,  in  the  last  fifty  years,  the  Mes- 
siah  was  to  come.  It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  the 


ARCHBISHOP  OP  CRANGANOR.  69 

Messiah  came  one  thousand  two  hundred  and  fif- 
teen years  ago;  for  that  is  thenumber  of  years  that 
has  elapsed  from  the  year  four  thousand  two  hun- 
dred  and  fifty  to  the  present  time.  Then  how  can 
you  expect  a  Messiah,  who,  by  your  own  reckon- 
mg,  must  have  appeared  so  long  since  v    He  was 
to  come  during  the  last  jubilee,  when  the  world 
should  have  existed  four  thousand  two  hundred 
years,  and  be  about  entering  the  last  fifty,  which 
were  to  complete  the  period  of  four  thousand 
two  hundred  and  fifty  years.     Being  then  at 
present  in  the  year  five  thousand  four  hundred 
and  sixty-five,  can  you  suppose  the  time  for 
the  Messiah's  coming  not  yet  arrived?    If  you 
reflect  on  the  force  of  this  argument,  you  will 
doubtless  take  the  advice  of  your  Eabbi  Samuel, 
who,  convinced  by  this  reasoning,  renounced 
your  creed    and    acknowledged    Jesus  Christ. 
''Stupeo,  ac  credo  Jesum  verum  Dei  Filium  exte- 
tisse  Messiam,  et  jam  venisse;  revolvendo  Scripta 
prophetarum,  manifeste  intelUgo  Christum  esse  Dei 
Filium  nobis  in  terram  missum  ad  redemptionem 
nostram.^l  am  amazed  at  this,"  said  the  Eabbi, 
"and  believe  that  Jesus,  the  true  Son  of  God,  was 
the  Messiah,  and  has  already  come.    For,  revolv- 
ing  in  my  mind  all  that  the  prophets  have  said 
I  clearly  understand  that  Christ  is  the  Son  of  God' 
who  was  sent  into  the  world  to  redeem  us."  This 
Eabbi  acknowledged  the  truth  by  renouncing  his 
former  belief,  and  you  would  do  well  to  follow 
H 


70 


SERMON   OF  JUSTINIANO, 


his  example.    Eabbi  Anima  Yoluntas,  or  Eabbi 
Moses  of  Egypt,  wl\o  is  the  same  person,  also  ac- 
knowledgcd  this  truth,  as  we  may  infer  from 
.Sanhedrin  Guazit,  in  IMek;  for  the  Jews  inquir- 
ing  of  him  the  time  of  the  Messiah's  coming,  ho 
(reflecting  on  the  procrastination  of  his  own  and 
your  expectations  of  this  event)  answered  them 
as  follows:  "  Vanum  est  atque  inane  a  Judaicis  J/es- 
siam  expectariy  sed  sola  redemptio  consistit  in  imni- 
tentid.— It  is  perfectly  in  vain,"  says  this  Rabbi, 
"for  the  Jews  to  expect  the  Messiah;  for  at  this 
time  it  is  only  by  repentance  that  they  can  ob- 
tain redemption." 

Undeceive  yourselves,  therefore,  my  brethren, 
as  your  rabbins  have  already  done.  Undeceive 
yourselves,  and  admit  that  your  hopes  are  fiiUa- 
cious,  and  that  the  advent  of  the  Messiah  is  al- 
ready passed,  and  having  passed  cannot  come 
again;  but  if  you  are  not  satisfied  by  this  consi- 
deration which  was  sufficient  to  satisfy  your  rab- 
bins, I  would  ask  you  in  conclusion  what  reply 
you  can  make  to  the  following  question? 

LYIII. 
Do  you  know  how  many  Messiahs  have  ap- 
peared in  the  world  whom  you  have  received  with- 
out raising  any  difficulty  or  dispute  ?  If  not,  as  pro- 
bably is  the  case,  I  will  enumerate  all  that  have 
come  to  my  knowledge.  Before  the  birth  of 
Christ,  Theudas  declared  himself  to  be  the  true 
Messiah.    The  Jews  received  him  publicly;  and 


ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


71 


» 


four  hundred  Jews  assembled  in  Jerusalem,  who, 
being  persuaded  that  he  could  conduct  them  over 
the  Eiver  Jordan  dryshod,  followed  him  with  all 
that  belonged  to  them.  This  being  made  known 
to  the  Roman  garrison  who  commanded  the  city, 
they  went  out  and  destroyed  him  and  his  fol- 
lowers, and  re-entered  Jerusalem  carrying  the 
head  of  Theudas  in  triumph.  So  relates  your  his- 
torian Josephus.  This  was  the  first  ^Messiah 
whom  you  received  without  any  difficulty  or  con- 
troversy, and  having  acknowledged  him  as  such, 
you  paid  with  your  lives  the  forfeit  of  your  cre- 
dulity. 

LIX. 

About  the  time  of  the  birth  of  Christ,  there 
came  another  Messiah,  Judas  Galileo,  who  pre- 
vailed on  you  not  to  pay  tribute  to  Caesar,  when 
he  had  ordered  a  general  impost  to  bo  collected 
throughout  the  world.  The  whole  Jewish  peo- 
ple received  him  with  transport,  butyou  and  Judas 
your  Messiah  experienced  the  same  fate  as  Theu- 
das. After  that  again,  in  the  time  of  Felix  the 
Proconsul  of  Judea,  came  a  third  Messiah,  named 
Egipcio,  who  was  received  by  you  with  equal  de- 
light, and  having  instilled  into  your  minds  the 
idea  of  ridding  Jerusalem  of  the  yoke  of  the  Ro- 
mans, with  four  thousand  men  sought  to  obtain 
possession  of  the  city,  but  being  opposed  by  Fe- 
lix, he  and  his  followers  met  the  same  end  as  the 
two  former  Messiahs.  Some  short  time  after  this, 


•11,. 


'  7 


72 


SERMON  OF  JUSTINIANO, 


w 


came  two  new  pretenders,  named  John  and  Si- 
mon, who  found  equally  ready  acceptance  with 
you  as  the  rest,  and  led  you  to  the  same  disas- 
trous consequences.  After  the  death  of  Christ, 
a  sixth  Messiah  appeared,  named  Barcosbas,  or 
as  some  called  him,  Bencosbas,  or  as  others  will 
have  it  Barchossiba,  who  gained  over  the  most 
enlightened  man  the  Jews  possessed  at  that  pe- 
riod (namely,  Eabbi  Akiba,  as  we  learn  from  the 
Talmud),  and  succeeded  in  inducing  you  to  rebel 
against  the  Romans;  which  resulted  in  your  de- 
struction by  Titus  and  Vespasian.  Forty-eight 
years  after  this  event,  a  seventh  pretender  ap- 
peared, named  Yentozora,  whom  some  errone- 
ously supposed  to  be  the  same  as  Barchossiba. 
Under  his  persuasion,  having  fortified  yourselves 
against  the  Romans  in  Bithera  or  Bither,  your 
country  was  again  ravaged  by  Adrian,  who 
brought  destruction  upon  you  and  your  pretend- 
ed jyiessiah. 

LX. 
In  the  course  of  time  came  an  eighth  Messiah, 
named  Mahir,  who  was  received  by  you  with 
your  usual  alacrity,  and  caused  you  to  pay  dearly 
for  your  acceptance  of  him.  The  ninth  Messiah 
appeared  in  Sicily,  and  made  you  believe  that  he 
was  to  lead  you  like  Moses  through  the  sea;  and 
having  obtained  credit  with  you,  he  and  all  who 
followed  him  found  their  grave  in  the  waters.  In 
the  year  sixteen  hundred  and  sixty-six  came  th© 


ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR.  73 

tenth  Messiah,  named  Sabbati  Essevi,  who  with 
the  greater  part  of  his  followers  was  condemned 
to  death  by  the  Turks  at  Constantinople.    And 
that  this  country  might  not  prove  an  exception 
to  your  notorious  credulity,  there  came  a  Jew 
from  India,  known  in  our  history  by  the  name  of 
the  Jew  of  Zapato,  who  told  you  that  he  was  the 
Messiah,  and  that  having  announced  himself  pub- 
licly to  the  Jews  on  the  Euphrates  as  such,  he 
had  come  to  you  to  declare  the  good  tidino-3, 
whereupon  you  eagerly  ran  to  receive  him,  Ex- 
pecting through  his  means  to  gain  possession  of 
the  Indies;  the  matter,  however,  ended  in  his  be- 
ing quickly  laid  hold  of  and  imprisoned  by  the 
Holy  Inquisition. 

Josephus  mentions  three  Messiahs  more,  Judas 
Gaulonitis,  Judas  son  of  Ezcchias,  and  Athronges, 
a  shepherd,  all  of  whom  met  the  same  flitc'^as 
those  who  went  before  them. 

LXI. 
Here  we  have  fourteen  Messiahs  publicly  re- 
ceived by  you  as  such.     JS^ow  tell  me,  I  entreat, 
when  you  acknowledged  each  of  these  as  the 
Messiah,  had  the  time  arrived  for  his  coming  or 
had  it  not  ?    If  not,  how  could  you  receive  these 
as  such  before  the  time  appointed  ?    If  the  time 
had  arrived,  and  on  that  ground  you  received 
them,  how  can  you  affirm  that  the  time  of  the 
Messiah's  coming  is  still  distant  ?    How  can  you 
maintain  that  the  time  was  come  when  all  others 

H* 


r  / 


n 


1 , 

1 


74 


SERMON   OP  jrSTINIANO, 


might  be  Messiahs;  bat  that  for  Christ  alone  the 
time  was  not  yet  come  when  he  might  be  tho 
Messiah  ? 

"\Yhat  answer  can  you  make  to  this  demonstra- 
tion ?  what  else  but  simply  to  acknowledge  that 
you  are  convinced,  for  such  a  demonstration  pre- 
cludes any  other  reply  :  cither  you  must  confess 
your  error,  and  admit  that,  on  the  score  of  time, 
the  advent  of  your  Messiah  is  impossible,  or  to- 
tally shut  your  eyes  to  reason,  from  an  obstinate 
determination  to  remain  Jews.  Cease  to  act  thus, 
my  brethren ;  for  if  such  be  your  resolution,  no 
greater  misfortune  can  bcfiiU  you :  your  captivi- 
ty will  still  endure,  your  exile  be  prolonged,  and 
your  oppression  become  more  stringent  every 
day;  for  a  Messiah  can  never  come  to  relievo 
you,  seeing  that  the  time  for  that  is  already  gone 
by,  consequently  there  can  be  no  end  to  the  mis- 
fortunes with  which  your  prophets  have  menaced 
you :  "7;)S6  autem  populus  direptus  et  vastatus;  la- 
queiis  juvenum  omneSy  et  in  domibus  carcennn  ah- 
sconditi  su7it ;  facti  sunt  in  rapinam,  nee  est  qui 
eruatj  in  direptioncnij  nee  est  qui  dicatj  BeddeJ' 

LXII. 
We  are  now  arrived  (slowly,  it  is  true,  but  our 
progress  would  have  been  still  slower,  had  I  ad- 
vanced all  the  proofs  which  I  had  prepared  for 
this  sermon), — we  are  now,  I  say,  arrived  at  the 
third  part  of  our  demonstration,  in  which  I  have 
to  prove  to  you  that  the  Messiah,  the  object  of 


ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


75 


your  fervent  aspirations,  and  whom  your  obsti- 
nacy has  continued  to  expect  for  so  many  years, 
is  impossible  by  reason  of  those  signs  that  were 
to  belong  to  him,  all  of  which  have  been  already 
accomplished  in  Christ,  and  having  been  so  ac- 
complished, do  not  admit  of  being  fulfilled  a  se- 
concl  time.  There  was  to  be  only  one  Messiah : 
that  is  acknowledged  by  all  your  ancient  Rab- 
bins; and  I  have  not  time  to  dwell  on  this  point, 
which  it  is  of  the  less  consequence  to  do,  as  it  is 
not  called  in  question  by  any  of  your  modern 
teachers.  The  Messiah  was  to  be  one  person; 
but,  if  at  different  periods  the  same  signs  have 
been  fulfilled  in  two  persons  that  God  gave  for 
one  only,  the  Messiah  must  necessarily  be  two, 
for  there  could  be  no  better  reason  that  the  Mes- 
siah should  be  one  rather  than  the  other.  This 
cannot  be  the  case;  for  God  promised  the  world 
only  one  Messiah :  besides,  if  at  different  times 
we  perceive  altogether  the  same  signs  in  two 
Messiahs,  as  belong  to  one  only,  God  has  deceiv- 
ed us  in  having  accomplished  in  two  those  signs 
which  were  proper  only  to  one.  It  is  impossible, 
as  our  natural  reason  suggests,  that  God  should 
deceive  us :  consequently,  it  is  impossible  that  at 
different  times  the  very  same  signs  should  be 
realized  in  two  persons,  because  one  of  these  two 
would  have  been  the  true  Messiah  and  the  other 
false.  But  since  the  signs  would  have  been  found 
in  both,  which  could  properly  belong  to  one  alone 


'^i 


i4l 


^« 


lit! 


70 


SERMON   OP  JUSTINIANO, 


the  other  would  be,  and  would  not  bo  the  Mes- 
siah, lie  would  bo  the  Messiah,  because  mani- 
festing the  signs  prophesied;  and  he  would  not 
be,  because  two  Messiahs  wore  impossible.  More- 
over, if  there  were  two  Messiahs  at  different 
times  accompanied  by  the  same  signs,  a  man  could 
not  but  be  held  guiltless  who  should  worship 
either  of  the  two,  although  that  one  should  chanco 
to  be  the  false  Messiah,  the  very  same  signs  being 
apparent  in  both,  and  there  being  no  reason  in 
favor  of  the  one  above  the  other. 

The  Messiah,  whom  God  commanded  us  to 
worship  as  his  Son,  is  one;  and  to  no  other  Mes- 
siah but  him  is  similar  worship  due.  This  is  ex- 
pressly stated  in  the  sacred  text,  according  to 
the  original  Hebrew:  ^^Oscxilaminij^  or  ^^ adorate 
Filium  ejus,  ne  forte  irascatur  Filius  tile,  et  omnino 
pereat  qui  illius  viam  non  sequitur."  And  where 
would  be  the  justice  of  God  promising  only  one 
Messiah  with  certain  infallible  signs,  should  lie 
confer  these  very  signs  on  two  different  persons? 
This  argument  proves  most  conclusively  that  the 
Messiah  whom  the  Jews  expect  can  never  appear, 
and  annihilates  the  grounds  upon  which  their 
hopes  are  founded,  seeing  that  the  signs,  that 
God  revealed  should  accompany  the  Messiah,  be- 
gan to  be  realized  one  thousand  seven  hundred 
and  five  years  ago  in  the  person  of  Jesus  of  Na- 
zareth, and  it  is  now  one  thousand  six  hundred 
and  thirty-two  years  since  they  were  fully  ac- 


^Mi 


ARCHBISnOP   OP   CRANGANOR. 


77 


complished,  such  being  the  number  of  years  since 
your  city  was  taken  and  destroyed  under  Titus. 

LXIII. 

To  complete  this  demonstration,  I  would  in- 
quire whether  you  expect  your  Messiah  to  come 
with  the  signs  described  by  your  Scriptures  and 
prophets,  or  with  others  unknown  to  us  and 
yourselves  ?  You  surely  will  not  say  that  you 
expect  any  others  besides  those  revealed  from 
God;  consequently,  he  must  come  with  the  signs 
we  collect  from  Scripture.  All  these,  without 
one  single  discrepancy,  have  been  fulfilled  in 
Christ ;  therefore  in  no  one  but  Christ  can  they 
again  be  fulfilled.  Now  let  us  examine,  not  all  the 
signs,  for  that  is  impossible  in  a  single  sermon, 
but  only  the  principal  ones  which  God  revealed 
should  be  manifested  in  the  Messiah. 

Lxiy. 

One  of  the  signs  of  the  Messiah,  God  says  by 
the  prophet  Isaiah,  chapter  viii.,  was,  that  when 
the  Messiah  should  come  into  the  world,  the  ruin 
of  the  Jews  and  the  destruction  of  their  city 
should  follow:  ^^Et  erit  vobis  in  sanctificationem,  in 
lapidem  autem  offensionis  et  in  petram  scandali  dua- 
bus  domibus  Israel;  in  laqueuniy  et  in  ruinam  habi- 
tantibus  in  Jerusalem.''  In  the  Chaldean  para- 
phrase (or)  the  Targura  of  Jonathan,  we  read : 
*^Et  erit  vobis  Messias  in  scandalum  duabus  domi- 
bus Israel"    If  you  deny  that  this  sign  belonged 


78 


SERMON   OF  JUSTINIANO, 


to  the  Messiah,  or  that  the  prophet  spoke  with 
reference  to  him,  you  contradict  the  Targum  and 
the  Talmud;  for  the  commentary  upon  this  pas- 
saoje  in  the  Treatises  Sanhcdrlti  and  Yalcuty  evi- 
dently  assumes  that  the  Messiah  is  the  person 
alluded  to:  "iVb/i  vcnietfilius  David  qiiousque  non 
consumentur  duce  domus  patrum  Israclj  siciit  scrip- 
turn  est  in  Isaiah^  (chapter  viii.)"  The  same  is  af- 
firmed by  your  llabbi  Salomon  in  his  exposition 
of  Micah,  chapter  v.,  ^^Iste  dominator  est  Jlessias 
filius  Davidy  de  quo  scriptum  est:  Et  erit  in  petrmn 
scandcUi."  Two  signs,  says  the  prophet,  shall 
witness  to  the  Messiah.  lie  is  to  be  a  stumbling- 
block  to  the  Jews,  and  the  Jews  are  to  be  ruined 
in  their  dominion  and  city  on  his  advent.  This 
being  granted,  I  call  upon  you  to  declare  whe- 
ther these  signs  were  or  were  not  fulfilled  in 
Christ?  If  they  were  not,  why  were  you  so 
greatly  offended  in  Christ,  that  as  the  cause  of 
your  offence  you  persecuted  and  crucified  him? 
Why  do  you  continue,  at  this  day  to  be  offended 
in  him,  so  that  you  cannot  without  offence  bear 
to  hear  him  named  ?  If  he  did  not  satisfy  the 
predictions,  how  is  it  that  your  city  is  destroyed? 
If  he  did  verify  them,  how  is  it  that  you  hope  for 
the  Messiah,  and  seek  for  his  coming,  that  you 
may  crucify  him?  You  have  already  done  so, 
and  would  you  go  on,  from  day  to  day,  murder- 
ing your  Messiah  ?  Why  do  you  seek  or  hope 
for  him  ?    Is  it  that  your  kingdom  may  be  lost  ? 


ARCHBISHOP  OP  CRANGANOR. 


79 


It  is  already  lost.  Is  it  that  he  may  be  the  de- 
struction of  your  city?  The  Eomans  have  already 
destroyed  it.  Is  it  that  he  may  deprive  you  of 
the  government  of  Judea  ?  It  is  already  taken 
from  you.  Is  it  that  he  may  be  an  offence  and 
stumbling-block  to  you?  Already  you  have  stum- 
bled over  and  been  offended  in  him,  since  you 
put  him  to  death  as  a  criminal,  though  he  was 
innocence  itself.  Let  us  enlarge  upon  this  point: 
and  tell  me  if  the  Messiah,  whom  you  expect,  is 
to  be  an  offence  and  stumbling-block  to  you;  and 

will  he  bring  ruin  and  destruction  upon  you  ? 

You  will  all  answer,  Xo;  for  the  Messiah  is  to  be 
the  object  of  your  adoration,  submission,  and  re- 
spect. Your  Messiah  is  to  restore  you  to  free- 
dom, reinstate  you  in  your  city,  conduct  you  in 
safety  to  Judea,  and  give  you  once  more  the  do- 
minion of  Palestine.  Well,  is  such  to  be  the 
Messiah  you  are  looking  for  ?  If  so,  he  will  be  a 
false  Messiah ;  for  the  true  Messiah  was  to  put 
an  end  to  your  dominion,  destroy  Judea,  ruin 
your  city,  and  be  an  opprobrium  to  you,  as  your 
prophet  and  your  rabbins  agree  in  foretelling. — 
Now,  your  Messiah  will  not  bring  with  him  these 
tokens:  and,  consequently,  Christ  must  be  the 
true  3Iessiah ;  and  he  whom  you  expect  to  come 
after  Christ,  must  be  a  false  Messiah. 

LXY. 
From  Isaiah  we  pass  to  the  text  of  Hosea, 
upon  which  we  shall  only  bestow  a  cursory 


80 


SERMON   OP  JUSTINIANO, 


w 


I 


glance;  for  if  we  were  to  dwell  upon  it,  it  would 
be  sufficient  in  itself  for  a  whole  sermon.  The 
prophet  Ilosca  in  chap.  iii.  gives  us  other  signs 
whereby  the  Messiah  might  be  known  on  his  com- 
ing. "D/ps  miiltus  expectabity  et  ego  expectabo  vos^ 
When  the  Messiah  comes,  says  the  prophet,  the 
Jews  will  be  expecting  him,  and  the  Messiah  will 
be  expecting  the  Jews;  and  as  the  Jews  were  not 
to  receive  him,  they  should  remain  without  aking, 

without  a  prince,  without  a  sacrifice,  and  without 
an  altar,  ^'Sedebunt  filli  Israel^  sine  rege,  sine  prin- 
cipej  sine  saerificio,  et  sine  alfariJ'  And  after  long 
remaining  in  this  condition,  they  would  acknow- 
ledge their  error,  and  in  the  latter  days  worship 
the  Messiah,  whom  they  were  not  willing  to  ac- 
cept when  he  came.  "-Ef  post  ha'c  revertentur  filii 
Israel  ad  Dominum  Deum  smun  et  ad  David  regem 
suum"  You  cannot  avoid  the  force  of  the  pro- 
phecy, by  maintaining  with  some  of  your  rabbins, 
that  the  passage  docs  not  allude  to  the  Messiah, 
but  to  David;  for  your  own  Targum,  a  sacred 
book  with  you,  interprets  the  passage  as  relating 
to  the  Messiah,  ^^Post  hcec  obedient  Messiwjilio  Da- 
vid.'^ And  your  rabbins  acknowledge  that  the 
Messiah  is  understood  in  Scripture  under  the  name 
of  David,  as  we  learn  from  Jledrash  Jlishle,  a  Glos- 
sary on  the  Proverbs  in  chap.  xix.  and  from  the 
book  called  Zoharj  in  the  exj^osition  of  chap.  xix. 
of  Leviticus.  Moreover,  independently  of  the  doc- 
trine of  your  rabbins,  it  clashes  both  with  reason 


ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANOANOR. 


81 


and  with  Scripture,  to  suppose  that  the  passage 
can  be  explained  as  relating  to  David. 

LXVL 
It  clashes  with  Scripture,  for  it  there  appears 
that  David  died  many  years  ago;  and  it  clashes 
with  reason,  since  it  is  evident  that  as  David  is 
dead  he  cannot  expect  you,  nor  can  you  expect 
him  while  the  world  exists.  For  it  is  clear  that 
David  after  his  death  cannot  return,  and,  conse- 
quently, you  cannot  expect  him,  nor  he  you,  for 
the  dead  cannot  expect  the  living.  Thus  it  is 
proved  the  prophet  did  not  speak  of  David.  You 
have  to  expect  him  who  was  predicted,  ^'JSxpecta* 
bis  me."  lie  is  also  to  expect  you,  ^^J^go  expectd" 
bo  vos."  If  he  is  to  expect  you,  then  he  must 
have  already  come;  for  if  he  had  not  come  you 
might  have  continued  to  expect  him,  but  he  could 
not  have  to  expect  you.  Y^'ou  cannot  expect  Da- 
vid, for  he  has  already  appeared;  nor  David  ex- 
pect you,  seeing  that  ho  is  dead:  consequently 
this  prophecy  cannot  be  understood  to  allude  to 
David.  Moreover  you  are  to  seek  out  the  per- 
son predicted  as  your  God.  ^'Qua^rent  Dominum 
Deum  suum."  None  of  you  are  now  looking  for 
David,  for  he  has  appeared  long  since,  nor  do 
you  acknowledge  David  to  be  God.  Thus  your 
exposition  must  be  untrue.  Besides,  you  were  to 
deny  the  person  predicted;  but  subsequently  at 
the  end  of  the  world,  to  be  converted  to  him, 
*^Fost  hac  revertentur.'^    You  were  to  adore  him 


VJ 


82 


SERMON   OF  JUSTINIANO; 


i 


m 


as  your  God,  says  tho  Targum,  ^^ Reverteniur  ad 
cultum  Dei  sui."  Thus  be  whom  you  were  to 
deny,  when  he  first  came,  was  God.  David  you 
did  not  deny,  at  the  time  when  he  came;  nor 
will  you  worship  him  as  your  God,  at  the  end  of 
the  world,  when  he  may  come  to  life  again. 
Therefore  David  cannot  bo  the  person  foretold 
by  your  prophet  llosea. 

LXVII. 

Much  less  can  you  refer  the  application  of  this 
prophecy  to  the  Babylonian  captivity;  for  in  the 
captivity  of  which  your  prophet  speaks,  you  were 
not  to  have  a  king,  a  prophet,  or  priest.  In  Ba- 
bylon you  had  a  priest  named  Joscdek,  as  we  per- 
ceive in  Daniel  xiii.;*  you  had  kings  and  princes, 
priests  and  sacrifices.  All  this  is  corroborated 
in  Baruchf  i.  10;  you  had  sacrifices  and  priests, 
^^Facite  mannay  ct  offcrte  pro  peecato  ad  aram  Bo- 
mini  Dei  Nostri.'*  You  had  a  king,  namely,  Joa- 
chim; you  had  princes,  namely,  Zerubbabel  and 
Salathiel ;  consequently,  the  prophet  did  not  speak 
of  the  Babylonian  captivity.  This  being  granted 
and  accepted  as  certain,  as  also  that  the  prophet 
spoke  of  the  Messiah,  we  will  now  proceed  to  the 
consideration  of  these  signs  in  Christ  Jesus. 


*  The  Hebrew  canon  has  no  such  chapter,  Daniel  end- 
ing with  chapter  xii. 

f  This  book  is  also  apocryphal. 


ARCHBISHOP   OF  CRANGANOR. 


83 


I 


LXYIIl. 
Is  this  prophecy  true?  You  cannot  but  ac- 
knowledge its  authenticity,  and  that,  consequent- 
ly, the  Messiah  has  already  come;  for,  otherwise, 
the  Messiah  could  not  be  expecting  you,  ^'expec- 
taho  vos"  He  came, you  would  not  receive  him ; 
and  for  this  reason  you  have  neither  prince,  altar, 
sacrifice,  nor  priest;  you  are  to  turn  to  him,  "Ke- 
vcrtentur-"  you  are  to  seek  for  him,  ^^Qucerent  Do- 
milium  Deum  suum."  Have  you  to  return  to  him  ? 
Then  you  must  have  turned  away  from  him  when 
he  came.  Has  the  prophecy  been  verified  or  not? 
If  it  has  not  been  verified,  how  comes  it  that  you 
did  not  receive  Christ  when  he  came;  and  that 
you  arc  since  without  prince,  altar,  sacrifice, 
priest,  or  king?  seeing  that  you  were  to  be  re- 
duced to  this  state,  in  consequence  of  not  accept- 
ing the  Messiah  when  he  should  come.  If  these 
things  have  been  already  accomplished,  how  can 
they  ever  be  accomplished  again  ?  Will  you  reject 
your  Messiah  when  he  shall  appear?  You  will 
all  reply  in  tho  negative,  consequently  in  him, 
the  signs  of  the  true  Messiah  cannot  be  fulfilled, 
for  the  true  Messiah  when  he  came  was  to  be  re- 
jected by  the  Jews.  Thus  if  the  signs  are  inca- 
pable of  being  hereafter  verified,  it  is  because 
they  have  already  been  verified  in  Christ.  Bat 
it  is  impossible  that  they  can  be  so  again;  and, 
consequently,  the  Messiah  whom  you  expect  be- 
comes impossible.  On  the  advent  of  yoi/r  Messiah, 


84 


SERMON    OF  JUSTINIANO, 


^li'j! 


are  you  to  lose  king,  sacrifice,  and  prince?  This 
cannot  be;  for  all  these  things  are  left  to  him 
to  restore  to  yon.  Thus,  in  your  Messiah,  this 
eigD  cannot  be  fulfilled;  therefore  Christ,  in  whom 
it  was  fulfilled,  was  the  Messiah,  and  he  whom 
you  look  for  will  never  exist.  To  what  end  do 
you  expect  and  hope  for  a  Messiah?  Is  it  to  re- 
ject him?  You  have  done  this  already.  Is  it 
that  you  may  be  left  without  king,  prince,  sacri- 
fice, altar,  or  priest?  You  have  been  in  this  state 
suflSciently  long  already;  and  if  on  his  coming 
you  remain  so,  the  Messiah  yon  expect,  as  wo 
have  fully  shown,  cannot  be  the  true  Messiah. 

From  Ilosea  we  turn  to  Malachi  to  discover 
another  sign  of  the  true  Messiah,  which  has  al- 
ready been  fulfilled,  and  therefore  cannot  occur 
again.  Malachi  i.  10,  ^^Non  est  mihi  voluntas  in  vo- 
bis.  Mumts  vestrum  non  suscipiam  de  manu  vestra. 
Ah  ortu  enim  soUs  usque  ad  occasiim,  magnum  est 
iiomen  meum  in  GenfibuSj  et  in  omni  loco  sacrifica- 
hitur  mihi  ablatio  munda."  When  the  Messiah 
comes,  God  said  through  the  prophet  Malachi, 
the  person  of  the  Jews  shall  no  longer  be  agree- 
able to  me,  nor  will  I  desire  to  receive  their  sa- 
crifices ;  for,  from  the  rising  of  the  sun  to  the 
o-oing  down  thereof,  my  name  shall_,  be  great 
among  the  nations  (that  is  among  the  Heathen), 
and  in  every  place  a  pure  sacrifice  shall  be  offer- 
ed to  me.  This  being  certain,  from  prophecy, 
tell  me,  are  not  yourselves  and  your  sacrifices 


ARCHBISHOP  OP  CRANGANOR. 


85 


rejected  ?  Have  not  the  gentiles  entered  into 
possession  of  your  heritage?  Does  God  accept 
any  sacrifice  or  external  worship  from  you?  Is 
there  any  part  of  the  world  where  the  converted 
heathen  do  not  offer  sacrifice  to  the  true  God  ? 
You  can  deny  no  part  of  this,  for  it  is  manifest 
to  the  whole  world.  The  whole  world  knows  it 
to  be  true,  that  you  do  not  now  offer  sacrifice ; 
that  it  is  a  tenet  of  your  faith  not  to  offer  sacri- 
fice out  of  Jerusalem.  All  the  world  knows  that 
your  sacrifices  and  yourselves  are  rejected,  and 
that  you  have  neither  altar  nor  priest.  All  the 
world  knows,  as  well  as  yourselves,  how  you  be- 
wail, with  unavailing  tears,  that  we  gentiles  are 
in  possession  of  your  heritage.  All  the  world 
knows  that  there  is  no  country  on  the  globe, 
where  the  converted  gentile  does  not  adore  the 
true  God,  and  offer  up  sacrifice  of  the  most  pure 
Avorship  and  acceptable  oblation.  Either  this 
prophecy  has  been  accomplished  or  not.  If  not, 
sacrifice  cannot  exist  throughout  the  world,  but 
only  in  Jerusalem.  This  is  not  the  fact;  for  al- 
though Jerusalem  still  exists,  there  is  no  one 
place  in  the  temple  where  you  are  permitted  to 
offer  up  sacrifice.  If  the  prophecy  is  not  fulfilled, 
the  prophet  must  have  spoken  untruly,  and  you 
cannot  avoid  conceding,  without  falling  into  a 
palpable  contradiction,  that,  according  to  your 
view,  he  is  mistaken  in  two  events,  which  he  af- 
firms were  to  occur  at  the  same  time.  First,  that 

I* 


J.  ' 


86 


SERMON   OF  JUSTINIANO 


) 


God  would  reject  and  put  an  end  to  your  sacri- 
fices. Secondly,  that  after  this  rejection,  the  gen- 
tiles throughout  the  world  would  offer  sacrifice. 
You  do  not  now  offer  sacrifices,  as  yourselves  al- 
low, and,  as  you  obstinately  maintain,  neither  do 
wo;  you  must  admit  one  of  these  two  alterna- 
tives, either  that  the  prophet  has  spoken  falsely 
in  declaring,  that  whenever  the  sacrifices  of  the 
Jews  should  cease,  those  of  the  gentiles  should 
follow;  or  else,  that  yours  having  ceased,  ours 
have  already  begun.  The  first  alternative  you 
cannot  maintain;  consequently,  you  must  ac- 
knowledge the  second.  Besides,  if  we  do  not  at 
the  present  day  offer  sacrifice,  you  place  your- 
selves in  a  dilemma,  as  it  would  show  that  God 
now  receives,  nowhere  throughout  the  world, 
cither  sacrifice  or  adoration  ;  for  you  do  not  ren- 
der any,  still  less  the  Mahomedans.  And  if  you 
should  maintain  that  we  do  not,  it  follows  that 
there  are  none  in  the  world  who  offer  sacrifice 
in  the  true  worship  of  God.  This  is  impossible; 
consequentl}',  the  sign  predicted  has  already  oc- 
curred, and  does  not  remain  to  be  verified.  To 
what  purpose  do  you  hope  and  seek  for  a  Mes- 
siah? Is  it  to  forfeit  your  right  of  primogeni- 
ture? That  is  already  lost  to  you.  That  the 
gentiles  should  possess  your  inheritance?  This 
they  already  do.  That  God  should  reject  you  ? 
Already  you  have  been  rejected.  Are  all  these 
things  to  happen  when  your  Messiah  comes? — 


ARCHBISHOP  OF   CRANGANOR. 


87 


Are  you  to  be  rejected  ?  Are  you  to  lose  your 
inheritance  and  your  right  of  primogeniture? — 
You  will  answer  me  in  the  negative;  for,  that 
your  Messiah  is  to  restore  you  to  all  those  things 
of  which  you  have  been  deprived  during  your 
captivity.  So  that  your  Messiah,  who  is  to  come, 
will  never  appear,  or  if  he  were  to  come,  cannot 
be  the  true  one;  for,  on  the  advent  of  the  true 
Messiah,  all  things  were  to  be  lost  to  you.  Now 
open  your  eyes,  my  brethren,  for  I  have  not 
time  to  produce  other  proofs — open  your  eyes, 
and  yourselves  behold  the  miserable  condition  in 
which  you  now  are,  and  perceive  how  fully  all 
the  signs  have  boon  verified  in  Christ  Jesus  that 
the  prophets  gave  for  your  direction  in  ascer- 
taining the  true  Messiah.  You  have  brought 
your  misery  upon  yourselves,  by  your  refusal  to 
accept  the  Messiah,  and  because,  instead  of  wor- 
shipping his  person,  you  took  his  life  on  the  cross. 
This  was  your  sin,  and  for  that  you  are  at  this 
day  suffering  punishment,  as  acknowledged  by 
Eabbi  Samuel,  ^'Non  paveo  quod  j>eccatum,  jper 
quod  sumus  in  hac  captioitate,  sed  illud  propter  quod 
locutus  est  dominus  per  Amos;  expavescOj  quod  iste 
Jesus  sit  ille  Justus  venditus  pro  argento." 

LXX. 

Adopt,  then,  the  conclusion  of  this  eminent 

Rabbi,  and  at  length  undeceive  yourselves;  for  it 

is  full  time,  seeing  that  your  hopes  are  but  an 

empty  shadow,  the  Messiah  you  expect  a  chime- 


?' 


i 


88 


SERMON   OF  JUSTINIANO, 


ra :  and  any  Messiah  but  Jesus  of  Nazareth  is  a 
dream  and  an  absurdity;  for  Christ  alone  pos- 
sessed all  the  true  qualifications  that  were  pre- 
dicted of  the  Messiah,  and  it  is  impossible  that 
any  other  person  can  be  invested  with  the  same. 
Be  satisfied  that  any  Messiah  but  Christ  is  im- 
possible; for  Clirist  having  come,  the  time  is  past 
for  the  advent  of  any  other.  Understand,  finall}', 
that  any  Messiah  beyond  the  person  of  Christ  is 
an  impossibility,  because  all  the  tokens  of  the 
real  Messiah  have  already  been  fulilled  in  him. 

If  you  will  repent  with  all  your  heart,  and  sin- 
cerely admit  tliis  conviction,  happy  indeed  will 
you  be  in  renouncing  your  error;  for,  with  a 
knowledge  of  the  truth,  you  will  abandon  the 
shadows  of  the  Sj'nagogue  for  the  light  of  the 
church,  the  horrors  of  heresy  for  the  beauty  of 
faith.  Take  comfort;  for,  although  chastisement 
may  have  placed  you  in  the  right  road,  it  will, 
in  the  end,  have  been  the  instrument  of  opening 
your  eyes;  and  you  will  find  your  God  so  merci- 
ful, that  although,  as  Jews,  you  rejected  him  for 
your  Father,  on  your  repentance  he  will  again 
receive  you  as  his  children,  having  redeemed  you 
by  his  own  precious  blood.  Prove  yourselves,  in 
the  true  sense  of  the  word,  good  Jews;  for  if 
"Jew"  means  one  who  makes  acknowledgment, 
you  ought  to  acknowledge  your  errors,  if  you 
would  be  thought  truly  to  remain  Jews.  The 
honor  you  have  lost  by  coming  under  the  sen- 


ARCHBISHOP   OF   CRANGANOR. 


89 


tence  of  the  Inquisition,  and  the  property  that 
has  been  confiscated  on  account  of  your  heresy, 
you  will  recover,  accompanied  with  great  grief 
of  heart,  on  account  of  its  not  being  by  misfor- 
tune that  you  have  incurred  so  much  suffering, 
but  for  your  sins  and  offences  against  a  God  to 
whom  you  are  so  much  indebted. 

LXXI. 

And  you,  unhappy  man,  who  stand  hero  among 
these  penitents,  if  you  would  obtain  remission  for 
your  sins,  open  your  eyes  in  time,  that  the  fire  in 
which  your  body  is  to  be  consumed  ma}'  not  ex- 
tend, at  the  same  time,  to  consume  your  soul.  O 
beloved  son  of  my  heart,  redeemed  by  the  blood 
of  Jesus  Christ,  educated  in  the  bosom  of  the 
Church,  bathed  in  the  holy  waters  of  baptism,  O 
that  I  could,  with  the  best  blood  of  my  veins, 
cure  you  of  your  blindness;  for,  were  that  possi- 
ble, I  would  shed  the  last  drop  to  remove  j'our 
illusion,  and  rescue  your  soul  from  the  power  of 
the  devil,  who  renders  you  thus  obstinate.  How 
bitterly  do  I  grieve  at  your  misery;  and  how 
deeply  is  my  soul  plunged  in  sorrow  at  behold- 
ing you  in  imminent  peril  of  eternal  condemna- 
tion !  Consider,  my  son,  begotten  in  the  gospel, 
born  among  Catholics,*  and  illuiiinated  by  tho 


*The  preacher  evidently  alludes  to  some  noted  person, 
vhose  name  it  is  in  vain  to  look  for  with  the  little  inform* 
ation  at  our  oommand. 


ri 


90 


SERMON   OF  JUSTINIANO, 


light  afforded  you  by  so  many  learned  men,  con- 
sider how  greatly  you  are  deceived,  and  that  if 
you  have  tiie  misfortune  to  die  in  this  condition, 
a  consuming  fire  awaits  your  soul,  to  envelop  it 
in  flames  to  all  eternity,  after  a  temporal  fire  has 
already  consumed  your  body.  You  are  convicted 
of  being  a  Jew  from  dii-ect  evidence;  and  3'ou 
have  yourself  confessed  your  guilt,  thinking  to 
diminish  the  crime  by  confession.  Besides  this, 
you  have  lapsed  into  the  abominable  error  of 
Atheism.  Now  reconcile,  if  you  can,  these  two 
things,  of  being  at  the  same  time  an  Atheist 
and  a  Jew.  If  at  this  day  salvation  could  bo  ob- 
tained by  the  Law  of  Moses,  which  it  cannot, 
you  are  in  the  wretched  condition  of  being  out 
of  the  pale  of  salvation  ;  for  you  will  die  a  here- 
tic to  the  very  law  you  profess.  You  are  a  Sad- 
duccan  Jew,  as  you  have  youi*self  acknowledged. 
Are  you  ignorant,  that  even  at  the  time  when 
your  law  still  existed,  the  opinions  of  the  Saddu- 
cees  were  considered  heretical,  inasmuch  as  they 
denied  the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection,  and  con- 
sequently the  immortality  of  the  soul?  You  are 
still  in  a  worse  state,  for  you  do  not  only  deny 
the  immortality  of  the  soul,  but  arc  so  blind  as 
to  deny  having  a  soul.  You  affirm  that  there  is 
no  other  happiness  beyond  this  world — that  life 
is  the  only  true  salvation — and  that  perdition  is 
Dot  in  hell,  for  there  is  no  such  place,  but  death 
is  the  sole  destruction.     If  you  believe  (however 


ARCnBIsnOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


91 


erroneously)  this  to  be  the  Axct,  why  do  you  seek 
to  lose  a  life  in  which  alone  happiness  consists  in 
your  opinion  ?  How  can  it  be  your  pleasure  to 
die,  if  death,  in  your  judgment,  is  the  only  per- 
dition ?  vSuffer  3'oursclf  to  be  persuaded  by  one 
who  ardently  desires  your  salvation.  Entreat 
the  mercy  of  the  tribunal  of  the  Holy  Office, 
^vhich  with  so  much  compassion  has  waited  two 
years,  and  has  so  patiently  borne  with  your  va- 
cillation, at  one  time  repenting,  at  another  time 
retracting,  and  finally  settling  down  into  the 
miserable  dogma  of  Atheism.  Confess  your  er- 
rors, not  with  the  desire  of  preserving  3'our  life, 
but  with  the  simple  view  to  the  salvation  of  3'our 
soul.  But  if  your  are  determined  to  die  in  your 
present  state,  I  summon  you  hence  to  the  day  of 
judgment,  when  both  of  us,  having  risen  from  the 
dead,  shall  appear  in  the  presence  of  the  true 
God.  You  will  return  to  life  as  a  Jew  and  a  he- 
retic, in  which  state  you  die:  I,  on  the  other 
hand,  hope  for  the  divine  mercy  by  returning  to 
life  as  a  Catholic,  because,  I  trust  through  the 
divine  goodness,  I  shall  die  in  the  law  of  Jesus 
Christ,  in  which  alone  salvation  can  be  obtained. 
We  both  of  us  have  to  appear,  at  the  resurrec- 
tion, in  the  presence  of  the  Supreme  judge;  and 
you  will  then  see  that  God  may  reprove  me  for 
the  greatness  of  my  sins,  but  will  not  for  being 
false  to  my  faith.  He  may  reproach  me  for  my 
defective  observance  thereof,  but  not  for  my  want 


;i 


92 


SERMON   OF  JUSTINIANO, 


of  sincerity  therein;   unless  God  were  unjust, 
which  he  is  not.   But  as  to  you,  he  will  not  only 
judge  you  on  account  of  your  crimes,  but  will 
condemn  you  for  the  observance  of  the  law  in 
which  you  died.     Imagine  yourself  in  the  pre- 
sence of  God,  free  from  any  other  sin  than  that 
of  persevering  in  the  law  of  Moses;  and  imagine 
a  Christian  in  the  same  divine  presence,  free 
from  any  crime  but  the  observance  of  the  law 
of  Christ.     If  God  were  to  condemn  the  Chris- 
tian for  the  love  of  his  law,  and  grant  salvation 
to  the  Jew  for  a  similar  observance  on  his  part, 
God  would  not  act  with  justice,  nor  would  it  be 
reconcilable  with  those  reasons  which  we  Ca- 
tholics urge  in  proof  of  his  justice.     For  in  that 
case  the  Catholic  might  reason  with  God  as  fol- 
lows: "Upright  Judge,  I  believe  in  Christ,  be- 
cause he  fulfilled  all  those  signs  that  you  reveal- 
ed by  your  prophets,  that  your  Son  should  be 
invested  with.     I  acted  as  you  commanded  me; 
and  you  now  condemn  me  for  so  doing.     Why 
will  you  condemn  me  for  being  obedient?"     As- 
suredly, this  statement  will  not  admit  of  any 
contradiction.  Consequently,  it  is  impossible  that 
God  will  condemn  the  Catholic  for  remaining  a 

Christian. 

Now  let  us  suppose  a  Jew,  whom  God  con- 
demns for  his  observance  of  the  law  of  Moses, 
attempting  to  argue  with  God  against  his  judg- 
ment, lie  would  say:  "O  God,  I  believed  in  the 


1 


ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR, 


9a 


God  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob ;  I  observed 
the  law  you  gave  to  Moses,  then  why  condemn 
me  ?"  But  then  God  might  reply :  "  You  speak 
untruly;  for  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  believed, 
and  expected  a  future  Messiah,  who  was  to  be 
my  Son,  and  was  to  possess  all  those  signs  that 
I  promised,  whereby  he  might  be  known.  This 
Son  came  into  the  world,  and  in  him  were  appa- 
rent all  the  tokens  revealed  in  the  Scriptures. — 
You  were  so  far  from  acknowledging  or  believ- 
ing him,  that  you  crucified  him.  The  law  given 
to  Moses  was  to  come  to  an  end  with  the  advent 
of  my  Son,  and  he  was  to  promulgate  another, 
which  was  to  spread  throughout  the  whole  world; 
and  you  saw  with  your  own  eyes  the  signs  of  the 
time  in  which  this  law  was  to  be  promulgated. 
(John  XV.  22.)  If  my  Son  had  not  come  into  the 
world,  and  the  prophecies  had  not  been  accom- 
plished, you  might  be  excused,  by  saying  you 
observed  the  law  that  I  gave  forever,  and  that 
you  believed  in  the  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and 
Jacob.  But  now  that  every  thing  has  been  satis- 
factorily fulfilled,  I  am  just  in  condemning  you, 
and  you  are  rebellious  in  remaining  a  Jew."  My 
brother,  however  frightful  this  may  be  that  I  am 
now  reciting  to  you,  such  will  be  indeed  your  lot 
on  that  day.  Such  is  the  mesh  in  which  yoUj  of 
your  own  choice,  will  be  caught.  This  is  the  net 
that  you  are  now  weaving  for  all  connected  with 
J 


i  i 


94 


SERMON   OF  JUSTINIANO; 


ARCHBISHOP  OP  CRANGANOR. 


95 


you,  your  children,  your  parents,  your  relatives, 
your  friends,  and  your  entire  race,  for  such  is  the 
wretched  lot  foretold  by  your  prophets.  *^lpse 
autem  popuhis  direptuSy  et  vastatus;  laqueus  juve- 
num.  omneSy  et  in  domibxis  carcerum  ahsconditi  sunt; 
facti  sunt  in  rapinam,  nee  est  qui  eruat;  in  direp- 
tionenij  nee  est  qui  dicat:  ReddeJ* 

LXXII. 

I  have  come  to  a  conclusion  with  my  proofs, 
and  likewise  with  you,  O  unhappy  people  of  Is- 
rael. O  God,  my  Lord,  who  was  crueitied  by  the 
Jews,  as  much  for  their  salvation  as  for  our  good, 
Lord,  soften   their  obdurate  hearts;   for  there 
stands  a  heart    truly  obdurate    among    these 
wretched  people.     Though  they  took  up  stones 
from  the  road  to  kill  you,  now  that  you  have 
suffered  death,  subdue  the  hardened  hearts  of  the 
Jews  who  murdered  you,  and  still  refuse  to  love 
you;  you  bestowed  sight  on  a  blind  man,  who 
put  a  spear  to  your  side,  give  eyes  to  this  blind 
people  who  still  desire  to  pierce  you,  and  still 
point  the  spear  to  your  heart.     Sprinkle,  O  God 
of  my  soul,  sprinkle  anew  water  and  blood  from 
your  compassionate  heart  over  these  wretched 
men :  it  may  be  they  will  repent,  seeing  that  a 
heart  offended  by  such  repeated   provocations 
still  lavishes  favors  so  little  deserved  by  their 
repeated  transgressions.    You  rent  the  veil  of 


the  temple  in  token  that  your  death  put  an  end 
to  the  Jewish  Synagogue:  rend  the  veil  that  has 
covered  the  Jewish  heart  for  so  many  years, 
that  with  all  their  heart  they  may  renounce  their 
errors  through  the  saving  influence  of  your  death. 
You  have  awaited  with  open  arms  the  sons  of 
Judea  for  seventeen  hundred  and  five  years,  and 
the  more  eagerly  you  solicit  them  to  come  to 
you,  the  more  ungratefully  they  turn  away  from 
you,  and  obstinately  refuse  to  acknowledge  you 
as  their  Messiah.  I  know  how  anxiously  you 
desire  to  save  them,  that  you  died  forever  in  dy- 
ing for  them,  and  that  they  for  murdering  you 
are  in  danger  of  perishing  eternally.  Be  mind- 
ful, O  Lord  God!  through  your  compassionate 
nature,  be  mindful  of  these  your  sons,  who,  in 
fact,  are  of  your  own  blood,  and  whom  you  redeem- 
ed at  the  price  of  so  much  suffering.  They  were 
so  ignorant,  that  though  you  were  their  Father, 
they  would  not  admit  themselves  to  be  your 
sons;  but  the  ingratitude  of  children  ever  finds 
pardon  in  the  loT^e  of  a  parent.  You  called  to 
them  in  kindness,  but  they  made  an  ungrateful 
return  for  your  favors.  Seek  now  to  win  them 
to  you  by  chastisement,  however  little  chastise- 
ment has  hitherto  benefited  them.  Cause  them 
to  acknowledge,  with  perfect  sincerity,  that  in 
their  present  miserable  state  they  have  no  other 
remedy  than  to  repent  for  the  time  they  have 


H 


96 


SEBMON   OF  JUSTINIANO. 


I 


n 


lost  in  their  false  expectations,  by  bewailing 
their  errors,  abhorring  their  sins,  abominating 
their  superstition,  and  renouncing  their  contu- 
macy; so  that,  being  regenerated  by  the  waters 
of  their  penitent  eyes,  they  may  be  born  again 
your  children,  as  already  by  baptism  they  have 
become. 

LAUS  DEOl 


REPLY 

TO 

THE   SERMON   OF  THE   ARCHBIS^OP 
OF  CRANGANOE, 

AT 

THE   AUTO   DA   FE, 

SOLEMNIZED  IN  LISBON,  SEPTEMBER  6,  1705. 

BY 

THE  AUTHOR  OF  THE  SECRET  HISTORY  OF 
THE  INQUISITION, 

A  POSTHUMOUS  WORK  PRINTED  IN  VILLA-FRANCA, 

BY 

CARLOS  VERO. 


' 


INTKODUCTIOK 

I  OUGHT  to  inform  the  candid  reader,  that  the 
reply  to  the  sermon  I  am  now  about  to  publish, 
is  the  posthumous  work  of  an  eminent  person 
known  in  the  republic  of  letters  by  his  excellent 
and  judicious  productions;  and  although  his  ad- 
vanced age  and  tormenting  infirmities  little  dis- 
posed him  to  engage  in  controversy,  yet,  to  com- 
ply with  the  wishes  of  some  of  his  friends  who 
were  most  anxious  to  see  a  refutation  of  this 
boasted  sermon,  he  composed  that  which  is  here- 
to subjoined,  and  quoted  the  several  articles  of 
the  sermon  separately,  in  order  to  reply  minute- 
ly to  each.     Ilis  intention  was  not  to  attack  the 
Christian  religion,  but  to  defend  his  own ;  and 
to  show  that  the  calumny  which  the  archbishop 
has  promulgated  against  that  most  eminent  and 
learned  writer.  Rabbi  R.  Solomon,  of  having  cor- 
rupted the  text  of  the  holy  Scriptures,  should 
actually  be  ascribed  to  the  archbishop  himself, 
or  to  some  Christian  who  preceded  him.     That 
the  author  has  accomplished  his  object,  he  who 
will  read  and  examine  the  sermon  and  the  refu- 
tation without  being  blinded  by  prejudice  or  in- 
terest,  cannot  fail  to  acknowledge;  and  I  am 
persuaded  that  any  one  capable  of  weighing  the 


i  ] 


ikH 


1/ 


rf 


I 


100  REFUTATION  OF  THE   SERMON  OF 

reasoning  of  each  party,  >vill  perceive  an  immense 
difference  between  the  sermon  and  the  reply; 
since  all  the  reasoning  the  sermon  presents  is 
deduced  from  the  erroneous  conclusions  and  con- 
ceits of  its  author,  from  inaccurate  quotations, 
allegory,  and  words  wrested  from  their  litera 
sense  J  while  the  reply  is  composed  of  real  and 
true  inferences,  deduced  from  premises  founded 
on  clear  and  evident  prophecies,  explained  in  the 
literal  sense,  without  being  perverted  from  their 
natural  meaning,  or  frittered  away  by  typical 
interpretation,  in  order  to  make  them  suit  a  par- 
ticular  purpose,  as  practised  by  the  preacher  m 

bis  sermon. 

So  much  it  has  been  considered  necessary  to 
state  to  the  friendly  reader;  for  most  people  de- 
sire to  know  something  of  an  author  as  well  as 

of  his  work.  . 

There  is  nothing  more  useful  to  religion  than 
free  discussion.    We  ought  closely  to  search  and 
examine  into  the  subject,  with  a  view  to  estab- 
lish it  on  the  most  solid  foundation;  but  whoever 
wishes  to  form  a  just  opinion,  must  divest  him- 
self  of  all  the  prejudices  imbibed  by  education, 
and  reflect  that  his  opponent  has  a  soul  as  well 
as  himself,  and  is  desirous  to  attain  that  supreme 
felicity,  which  is  the  aim  of  all  true  religion;  he 
ou^rht  to  consider  that  there  is  no  man  in  the 
wodd  who,  if  he  knew  that  there  existed  a  true 
religion,  which  was  not  his  own,  but  would  aban- 


THE  ARCHBISnOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


101 


don  his  own  and  embrace  the  true  one;  for  if  bo 
did  not,  his  obstinate  opposition  to  his  own  good 
would  render  him  unworthy  of  the  title  of  Man. 
This  being  admitted,  it  follows,  that  if  the  mo- 
tive wdiich  stimulated  him  to  controversy,  is  to 
brinir  over  to  what  he  believes  to  be  the  true  re- 
ligion  those  who,  for  want  of  being  rightly  in- 
formed, have  been  kept  away  from  it,  he  ought 
to  avail  himself  of  those  means  which  best  con- 
duce to  the  desired  effect;  he  should  adopt  the 
most  persuasive  style,  and  confine  himself  to 
strict  reasoning,  solid  arguments,  to  inferences 
correctly  deduced,  and  to  conclusions  carefully 
drawn;  he  ought  not  to  evince  any  partiality 
except  for  truth,  but  should  acknowledge  reason 
wherever  he  may  meet  it,  and  exhibit  perfect 
sincerity  and  candor  throughout;  he  ought  to 
flee  from  subterfuge  and  fiction ;  be  most  scru- 
pulous of  what  he  ventures  to  assert,  and  honest 
in  giving  the  correct  sense  of  his  quotations;  ho 
ought  not  to  offend  by  using  ignominious  terms, 
nor  invent  calumnies  to  uphold  his  doctrine, 
much  less  claim  a  victory  founded  on  passages 
perverted  from  their  literal  meaning.  It  is  in 
this  manner  that  the  discussion  will  be  best  con-* 
ducted,  and  the  truth  most  easily  elicited,  which 
is  the  object  we  ought  to  seek.  To  act  otherwise 
serves  only  to  endanger  the  credit  of  the  dispu- 
tant and  the  religion  he  advocates;  for  when  w^e 
find  that  a  man  is  unable  to  defend  his  creed 


102 


REFUTATION  OF  THE  SERMON   OP 


i 


without  offering  offence  to  his  opponent,  and  re- 
sorting to  calumnies  and  falsehood,  we  are  apt 
to  attribute  the  defects  of  the  pleader  to  the  re- 
ligion  itself,  and  naturally  conclude,  that  since 
no  other  argument  but  abuse  has  been  put  for- 
ward, none  other  can  be  advanced  j  and  the  op- 
posite party,  instead  of  becoming  converted,  only 
remains  more  firmly  attached  to  his  own  faith. 

Ileliirion  bcinor  a  matter  that  so  vitally  con- 
cerns  every  human  being,  on  entering  into  po- 
lemical discussions,  with  the  view  of  converting 
another  person  to  our  creed,  no  language  unwor- 
thy of  learned  and  rational  men  should  be  resort- 
ed to;  otherwise,  instead  of  following  up  the  in- 
vestigation of  the  more  essential  principles  in 
question,  we  should  be  occupied  in  resenting  the 
insults  offered,  and  in  framing  others  in  retalia- 
tion, by  which  means  hatrj^d  and  ill-will  arc  en- 
gendered, instead  of  the  amicable  feelings  that 

ought  to  prevail. 

I  am  of  opinion  that  we  ought  to  esteem  and 
respect  any  person  who  attempts  to  convert  us 
to  his  own  religion,  whatever  that  may  be,  which 
(according  to  his  belief)  will  procure  for  us  the 
•  greatest  and  most  exalted  benefits  that  man  can 
desire  J  and  if  he  treats  us  with  the  courtesy  con- 
sistent with  the  sincerity  to  which  he  lays  claim, 
we  ought  to  endeavor  to  answer  him  in  the  most 
courteous  and  charitable  terms  in  our  power; 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  nothing  forbids  us  to 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OP  CRANGANOR. 


103 


hold  in  contempt,  and  to  regard  as  outcasts  from 
the  republic  of  letters,  those  who  wilfully  per- 
vert facts  and  disfiojure  the  truth  to  answer  their 
own  purposes. 

All  the  religions  in  the  world  admit  of  being 
classified  under  four  denominations.  The  first, 
comprehending  the  greater  part  of  the  world,  is 
made  up  of  the  various  Pagan  religions  which 
suppose  a  multitude  of  gods,  or  no  god  at  all; 
the  next,  less  numerous  than  the  Pagans,  al- 
though more  so  than  those  which  follow,  is  Ma- 
homedanism;  the  third  is  Christianity,  embrac- 
ing fewer  disciples  than  those  above  named,  but 
more  than  the  fourth,  which  is  the  least  of  all  in 
number.  This  consists  of  those  who  profess  the 
Jewish  religion. 

As  we  have  not  much  knowledge  of  the  vari- 
ous Pagan  creeds,  it  is  unnecessary  to  take  them 
into  consideration ;  the  rest  (namely,  Mahome- 
dans.  Christians,  and  Jews)  agree  in  the  opinion 
that  there  exists  onl}^  One  Sole  Eternal  Cause, 
that  created,  directs,  and  governs  the  world; 
moreover.  Christians  and  Jews  coincide  in  main- 
taining that  none  other  but  their  respective  reli- 
gions can  be  true. 

Now,  the  Jewish  religion  may  be  divided  into 
two  forms  of  faith :  the  one  professed  by  tlie  ma- 
jority of  the  Jews  is  the  Law  of  Moses  conjoined 
with  rabbinical  traditions;  the  other  is  that  which 
is  professed  by  the  Caraites,  who  reject  tradition. 


104  REFUTATION  OF  THE  SERMON  Or 

It  would  be  necessary,  therefore,  for  a  Christian 
disposed  to  become  a  convert,  and  to  be  convinc- 
ed of  the  truth  of  the  Jewish  religion,  before 
professing  either  of  the  two  creeds,  to  examine 
with  every  possible  accuracy  and  diligence  tho 
reasoning  of  both  parties,  in  order  to  know  m 
favor  of  which  he  should  decide;  since  if  he  re- 
main uninformed  of  the   arguments  on  which 
cither  is  founded,  he  will  not  be  in  a  position  to 
discover  the  truth  j  but,  after  acquiring  a  minute 
and  extensive  knowledge  of  the  ground  of  per- 
suasion  that  prevails  with  them  each  to  follow 
their  respective  opinions,  he  will  then  be  master 
of  the  question,  and  competent  to  choose  the  side 
he  deems  best  supported.  I  cannot  conceive  how 
any  Jew  can  conscientiously  be  induced  to  be- 
come  a  convert  to  Christianity,  without  first  ex- 
amining  most  rigidly  all  the  various  opinions 
that  have  been  and  still  are  entertained  among 
the  professors  of  that  creed,  as  well  as  the  rea- 
sons which  are  urged  for  and  against  them;  for 
on  this  subject  there  exists  so  great  a  diversity 
of  iudgments,  that  each  party  claims  the  victory 
for  itself,  and  remains  persuaded  that  it  alone 
professes  the  true  religion,  and  that  all  others 
are  mere  schismatics.     What  man  is  there  so 
learned,  so  acute,  and  so  thorough  a  theologian 
that  he  can  presume  to  decide  for  one  sect  in 
particular,  much  less  to  fix  his  choice,  without 
first  well  weighing  and  comparing  together  tha 
various  opinions  ? 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


105 


This  is  a  task  which  ought  to  be  performed 
among  Christians  themselves;  nor  should  any  of 
them  presume  to  decide  on  the  subject,  who  had 
not  first  thoroughly  examined  into  every  sect  of 
his  religion,  divested  of  the  prejudice  resulting 
from  having  been  brought  up  in  a  different  mode 
of  belief.     To   convert  the  Jews,  therefore,  it 
would  be  requisite,  in  the  first  place,  to  call  a 
general  council  of  all  the  professors  of  Christian- 
ity, under  whatever  denomination  they  may  be 
styled,  not  excepting  the  Unitarians;  and  when 
the  general  council  shall  have  agreed  which  of 
all  their  various  opinions  ought  to  be  adopted 
by  common  consent  of  all,  uninfluenced  by  arti- 
fice, deceit,  interest,  or  arbitrary  power,  it  would 
then  be  proper  to  summon  another  council,  to 
which  the  Jews  might  have  free  access  and  full 
liberty  to  deliver  their  opinions  explicitly,  with- 
out fear  or  reserve,  on  a  subject  involving  tho 
salvation  of  all. 

The  Christians  should  first  prove  that  Christ 
was  the  promised  Messiah  from  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, and  from  all  the  prophecies  which  speak 
literally  of  the  true  Messiah,  without  perversion 
or  allegory.  They  must  produce  authority  for  as- 
serting that  He  was  to  be  both  God  and  Man. — 
They  must  prove  from  the  Old  Testament  that 
God  is  One  and  Three;  they  must  show  clearly 
the  obligation  of  the  Jews  to  renounce  the  Law 
of  Moses,  and  to  embrace  that  of  Christ,  and 


106 


BEFXJTATION  OP  THE  SfitlMON  OF 


satisfy  us  by  what  authority  this  latter  law  "Was 
ordained;  and  after  all  this,  the}'  should  patient- 
ly attend  to  the  arguments  which  we  might  al- 
lege to  the  contrary.  Each  party  should  have 
full  liberty  of  speech  and  reply,  and  be  ready  to 
acknowledge  the  truth,  on  whichever  side  and 
under  whatever  form  and  circumstances  it  might 
appear. 

This  is  the  only  way  to  bring  all  to  acknow- 
ledge tho  truth;  but  to  produce  that  effect,  it 
would  be  requisite  that  such  a  council  should  be 
open  to  the  public  without  restriction,  that  it 
should  be  composed  of  men  not  holding  any  reli- 
gious appointment  from  either  party,  so  that  no 
one  might  be  constrained  to  persist  in  his  own 
particular  creed  for  the  sake  of  retaining  office. 

It  appears  to  me  that  it  is  only  in  this  manner 
the  truth  can  be  elicited,  and  a  decision  come  to 
on  the  question  that  has  been  agitated  during 
seventeen  hundred  years,  and  which  may  sub- 
sist, God  alone  knows  how  much  longer. 

But  it  is  as  great  madness  for  the  archbishop 
to  believe  that  the  Jews  will  yield  their  opinions 
under  the  influence  of  subtlety  and  allegory,  as 
it  would  be  for  them  to  believe  that  he  would 
yield  his,  so  long  as  the  church  has  any  benefices 
to  bestow.  Let  each  man  adhere  to  his  own 
creed,  and  worship  God  with  an  upright  and 
pure  intention,  and  not  depart  from  what  has 
been  taught  him  (provided  he  does  not  feel  com- 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OP  CRANGANOR. 


107 


petent  to  decide  for  himself),  and  leave  to  God 
the  care  of  his  salvation.  He,  who  is  all-merci- 
ful, will  accept  his  upright  intentions,  although 
his  form  of  creed  may  not  be  the  moat  accepta- 
ble. Let  theologians  talk  as  they  please,  this  is 
what  I  shall  ever  believe;  for  I  can  never  be 
persuaded  that  our  merciful  Creator  will  with- 
hold Jlis  grace  even  from  an  upright  and  virtu- 
ous Mahomedan,  who  observes  his  religion,  be- 
cause he  sincerely  believes  it  to  be  the  best  man- 
ner in  which  he  can  worship  God. 


^ 


THE  SERMON  REFUTED. 

Paragraph  II. — *^You  are  the  persons  ichose 
patience  has  never  been  exhausted  by  long  protract- 
ed hope.** 

Righteous  Heaven  !  How  groat  must  bo  the 
force  of  that  prejudice,  which  can  presume  to 
censure  as  a  crime  the  practice  of  a  virtue  so 
truly  heroic,  and  so  well  deserving  the  highest 
encomium. 

It  is  on  account  of  this  sublime  hope,  that  the 
people  of  Israel  are  called  a  holy  people;  for  nei- 
ther captivity,  banishment,  martyrdom,  afflic- 
tion, or  degradation  has  been  sufficient  to  make 
them  abandon  the  true  faith;  nor  has  the  hope 
of  future  greatness  or  present  prosperity  proved 
an  adequate  incentive  to  make  them  renounce 
their  sacred  and  imperishable  religion;  such  is 
their  constancy  in  truth  and  such  the  strength 
of  their  belief,  that,  preferring  heavenly  to  all 
human  considerations,  they  do  not,  and  will  not 
forsake  God  and  His  law. 

In  a  similar  case,  doubtless,  the  noble  preacher 
and  his  followers  (since  he  deems  the  patience 
and  hope  of  the  Jews  so  great  an  evil)  would 
think  it  more  becoming  to  sacrifice  patience  and 
hope,  and  turn  away  from  one  deity  to  another, 
and  from  one  law  to  another,  as  they  are  wont 


REFUTATION  OP  THE  SERMON. 


109 


to  do  with  their  saints,  fixing  their  devotion  upon 
those  from  whom  they  anticipate  the  most  prompt 
return. 

But  to  show  the  archbishop  how  much  God  es- 
teems this  virtue,  and  in  what  terms  He  extols 
it,  let  them  attend  to  the  words  of  the  prophet 
Jeremiah  ii.  2,  where  it  is  affirmed  that  he  will 
not  forget  the  patience  with  which  the  holy  peo- 
ple followed  him  forty  years  in  the  wilderness: 
^^Recordor  tibi  benignitatis  adolescentice  tuce,  amoris 
sponsalium  tuorum,  te  prosequitam  esse  me  per  de- 
sertum,  per  terram  non  satam.'* 

If  the  Divine  Majesty  was  thus  pleased  with 
the  dependence  on  His  divine  providence  during 
the  short  term  of  fort}'^  years,  how  much  more 
so  must  He  be  with  their  patience  and  endurance 
during  so  many  centuries  of  captivity  and  exile? 

"  You  are  those  to  whose  minds  the  clearest  evi- 
dence does  not  bring  conviction!'* 

In  proceeding  to  proofs,  the  force  of  this  evi- 
dence will  be  examined. 

VI. — See  the  prophet  Isaiah,  chap.  xlii. 

The  preacher  imagines  that  the  prophecy  al- 
luded to  describes  the  calamities,  extortions,  and 
vexations  the  Jews  were  to  suffer  after  the  ad- 
vent of  the  Messiah.  To  justify  this  interpreta- 
tion he  paraphrases  the  verse :  ^^Ipse  autem  popii- 
lus  direptus  et  vastatus/*  etc.  "  They  are  a  people 
despoiled  and  trampled  under  foot,"  &c.,  from 


110 


BEFUTATION  OF  THE  SERMON   OP 


which  words  he  infers  that  the  Jews  have  no 
right  to  look  forward  to  a  Messiah. 

IX. — "T/"  the  Jews  place  their  hope  of  redemption 
in  a  future  Messiah,  and  they  are  still  expecting  the 
Messiah,  why  does  the  prophet  say  that  the  Jews  are 
not  to  have  redemption  f  For  the  precise  reason,  that 
the  Jews  expect  their  salvation  from  a  future  Mes- 
siah, they  must  remain  without  relief;  for  a  new 
Messiah  will  never  come  to  the  Jews,  and  as  such  a 
Messiah  is  impossible,  so  is  the  relief  impossible  that 
the  Jews  expect  therefrom  J' 

It  must  bo  noticed  that  this  prophecy  consists 
of  two  parts;  the  first  is  quoted  hy  tiie  preacher, 
the  second  he  has  taken  care  to  omit.  The  first 
represents  the  troubles,  misfortunes,  and  con- 
tumel3'  that  Israel  suffers  in  its  prei<ent  disper- 
sion \  the  second  states  the  good,  the  greatness, 
and  felicity  that  Israel  will  enjoy  in  its  future 
redemption;  and  this  is  given  in  terms  so  affec- 
tionate and  kindly,  as  to  draw  tears  of  joy  from 
every  Israelite,  still  more  confirming  him  in  his 
hopes,  and  cheering  him  with  a  promise  of  pros- 
perity which  he  knows  cannot  fail  him. 

The  following  is  a  translation  of  the  words 
pronounced  by  the  holy  prophet  with  his  accus- 
tomed eloquence  and  inimitable  energ}'  of  style: 
"But  now,  thus  saith  the  Lord,  that  created 
thee,  O  Jacob,  and  lie  that  formed  thee :  O  Is- 
rael!  fear  not;  for  I  have  already  redeemed 
thee,  I  have  called  thee  by  thy  name;  thou  art 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OP  CRANGANOR. 


Ill 


mine.  When  thou  passest  through  the  waters 
I  will  be  with  thee;  and  through  the  rivers,  they 
shall  not  overwhelm  thee;  w^hen  thou  walkest 
through  the  fire,  thou  shalt  not  be  burned,  nei- 
ther shall  the  flame  kindle  upon  thee;  for  I  am 
the  Lord  thy  God,  the  Holy  One  of  Israel,  thy 
Saviour."  (Isaiah  xliii.  1-3.) 

And  in  the  same  cheering  strain  he  continues 
to  the  conclusion  of  the  chapter,  to  comfort  and 
encourage  his  beloved  Israel,  although  a  sinful, 
ungrateful,  and  rejected  people. 

I  cannot,  then,  conceive  how  the  preacher  can 
positively  assert,  that  the  prophet  declares  that 
no  redemption  will  come  to  release  Israel  from 
their  present  bondage,  when  he  evidently  states 
the  contrary.  I  wonder  that  the  orator  never 
contemplated  that  his  sermon  might  chance  to 
fall  into  the  hands  of  some  Jew,  who,  on  con- 
sulting the  passage,  chapter  xlii.,  will  find  that 
the  preacher  has  exaggerated  the  evils  therein 
threatened,  by  representing  them  as  irrevocable 
and  perpetual,  whereas  the  prophet  does  not  pro- 
tract  them  beyond  the  period  of  the  captivity, 
also  that  he  suppresses  the  promised  restoration 
to  prosperity  which  follows  in  chapter  xliii. 

What  opinion  can  that  Jew  entertain  of  the 
preacher's  candor?  What  conception  can  he 
form  of  his  doctrines?  We  will  still  farther  de- 
velop these  important  reflections.  The  preacher 
affirms  that  there  will   be  no  redemption  for 


112 


REFUTATION  OF  THE  SERMON  OF 


Israel;  but  God  sa3's,  "Fear  not,  for  I  have  al- 
read}'  redeemed  thee." 

The  preacher  affirms  that  God  has  rejected 
and  discarded  Israel  from  His  protection  and  fa- 
vor, that  He  no  longer  acknovvled«^es  them  for 
His  peculiar  people.  God  says,  '*  1  called  thee  by 
thy  name,  thou  art  mine."  The  preacher  affirms 
that  Israel,  throu«j;h  their  manifold  iniquities, 
have  lost  the  glorious  privilege  ibey  enjoyed 
when  God  styled  himself  the  God  ot  Israel.  But 
God  says,  ♦*  I  am  the  Lord  thy  God,  the  Holy 
One  of  Israel,  thy  Savior." 

1  would  ask  then  the  preacher,  if  he  can  sup- 
pose that  the  Jews  will  cease  to  believe  the  word 
of  God,  which  is  so  clear,  obvious,  and  intelligi- 
ble, in  order  to  attach  belief  to  his  own  exagge- 
rations, misrepresentations,  suppressions  of  fact, 
and  forced  objections?  Is  he  so  blind  as  not  to 
perceive,  that  the  arguments  which  he  advances 
against  their  expected  Messiah  and  their  long- 
protracted  hopes,  are  the  very  same  which  give 
them  assurance  of  the  one  and  confirm  them  in 
the  other  J  so  much  so,  that  the  wondering  and 
astonished  Israelite  will  be  apt  to  exclaim,  "O 
God  of  Truth,  are  these  the  proofs  that  Chris- 
tians bring  against  us?  Are  such  preached  by 
their  eminent  divines,  approved  of  by  their  most 
learned  prelates,  and  given  to  the  public  press 
under  the  highest  authorities  ?" 

Blessed  art  Thou,  the  great  God  of  Israel,  who 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


113 


hast  preserved  me  in  my  true  faith !  for  what 
better  proof  of  its  truth  can  I  desire  than  that  of 
its  assailant  having  no  means  to  confute  rae  save 
those  which  spring  from  disguises,  exaggerations, 
and  omissions,  contradictions  of  fact,  and  quota- 
tions so  garbled,  that  I  can  find  the  most  con- 
vincing arguments  in  its  favor  in  the  very  pas- 
sages which  he  attempts  to  bring  forward  to  con- 
fute it. 

XIII. — The  preacher  saj'S,  that  if  we  ask  the 
Jew  whether  his  expected  Messiah  will  be  only 
Man,  or  both  God  and  Man,  ho  feels  greatly  per- 
plexed; and  on  this  account  the  rabbins  warned 
the  people,  that  should  such  a  question  be  pro- 
pounded to  them,  they  must  reply,  that  the  Mes- 
siah has  not  nor  ever  will  come. 

Now,  I  cannot  understand  how  the  Jew  caa 
feel  any  such  doubt  or  embarrassment,  while  ono 
of  the  articles  of  his  creed  declares  that  the  Mes- 
siah is  to  be  a  Man^  and  not  God  and  Man^  as 
will  be  hereafter  shown.  I  must  suppose  that 
this  information  has  been  given  to  the  preacher, 
either  by  some  malevolent  neophyte,  to  gain 
credit  as  a  good  Christian,  or  by  some  ignorant 
Christian,  to  obtain  credit  as  a  deep  theologian. 
If  the  preacher  extracted  it  from  any  book,  he 
ought,  as  is  usual,  to  have  stated  where  he  found 
this  famous  advice  of  the  rabbins;  however,  it 
often  happens  in  controversies,  where  power  and 
tyranny  su];)er8ede  the  necessity  of  evidence,  that 


114 


BEFUTATION  OF  THE  SERMON  OP 


the  more  essential  points  are  admitted  without 
proof;  and  points  of  the  least  ini]x>rtance  are 
dwelt  upon  and  exa«rgerated. 

^^^•-""  The  Jews  arc  divided  in  opinion  on 
the  advent  ofthe  Messiah,  some  believe  that  he 
has  not  yet  appeared,  and  are  still  ex))eclin<r  I,im, 
whilst  others  affirm  that  he  came  sixteen  hun- 
dred and  thirty-seven  years  ago,  immediately 
after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  by  Titus." 

Thus  far  the  preacher  in  his  sermon,  althouirh 

he  well  knows  that  no  Jew  believes,  nor  ever  did 

believe  any  such  thing,  not  even  the  rabbins  who 

speak  of  the  birth  of  the  Messiah,  they  having 

represented  this  imaginary  being  as  if  in  actual 

existence,  with  a  view  to  indicate  to  the  people 

that  the  Messiah  would  be  ready  to  appear  at 

any  moment  when  they  should  become  penitent, 

as  promised  by  Moses  in   Dent.  iv.  29,  where' 

after  intimidating  the  people  with  angry  threats' 

he  says,  that  notwithstanding  their  rebellion,  if 

they  seek  God  with  all  their  heart  and  with  all 

their  soul,  they  will  find  Him  indulgent  and  gra- 

cious.     The  same  is  confirmed  in  chapter  xxx. 

Kow  the  rabbins  appreher.ded  that  the  nation, 
seeing  itself  dispersed  over  the  three-quarters  of 
the  globe,  defenceless,  without  allies  or  friends, 
without  prince  or  kingdom,  without  a  temple  or 
sacrifice,  and  plunged  into  sad  consternation, 
would  give  way  to  a  fatal  despondency,  judging 
that;  having  left  God  and  renounced  His  pro- 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OP  CRANGANOR. 


115 


tection,  lie  had  left  them  exposed  to  rapine,  de- 
struction, and  extermination.  The  rabbins,  as 
vigilant  and  affectionate  parents,  endeavored  to 
animate  and  comfort  the  people  by  suggesting, 
through  metaphors,  in  imitation  of  the  prophets, 
that  their  deliverance  from  the  present  captivity 
would  be  more  speedy  than  what  had  taken 
place  from  Egypt  and  Babylon,  requiring  no 
condition  except  that  of  repentance;  it  being 
manifested  in  innumerable  passages  of  the  Pen- 
tateuch and  Prophets,  that  when  the  people  of 
Israel  should  find  themselves  oppressed  with 
troubles,  persecutions,  and  calamities,  on  revert- 
ing to  God  with  sincere  and  cordial  contrition, 
they  would  be  redeemed  and  reinstated  in  their 
own  land  with  much  greater  prerogatives  and 
privileges  than  those  they  enjoyed  on  the  two 
previous  occasions;  for  that,  on  being  finally  re- 
stored to  its  possession,  they  would  never  agaia 
have  to  apprehend  war,  hostile  invasion,  or  a  re- 
newal of  their  captivity. 

The  preacher  will  perhaps  reply,  by  urging 
that  the  rabbins  might  easily  have  taught  this 
dogma  of  the  speedy  advent  of  the  Messiah, 
without  conjuring  up  any  imaginary  being  to 
make  the  public  believe  a  thing  that  had  no  ex- 
istence. I  answer,  that  they  only  copied  the 
Prophets,  who  frequently  present  figurative  de- 
scriptions as  actual  realities.  The  prophet  Isa- 
iah, in  his  book,  chapter  v.,  describes,  »*A  vino 


116 


REFUTATION  OP  THE  SERMON  OP 


planted  by  his  friend  in  a  fertile  soil,  where  he 
erected  a  tower  and  made  a  wine-press,  hoping 
to  gather  abundance  of  choice  grapes,  but  when 
he  gathered  them  found  them  only  wild  in  place 
of  cultivated  grapes."  Here  we  see  a  simple  alle- 
gory, a  thing  of  the  imagination,  represented  by 
something  that  had  real  existence;  the  prophet 
himself  explaining  that  by  this  vine  must  be  un- 
derstood the  house  of  Israel,  from  which  God  ex- 
pected a  nation  of  pious  and  devout  men,  but 
found  them  only  licentious  and  dissolute. 

Did  not  God  command  the  prophet  Ezekiel  to 
show  the  people  the  representation  of  a  great 
eagle  with  large  wings,  expanded  limbs,  and 
beautifully  variegated  plumage,  that  had  broken 
off  the  branch  of  a  cedar  tree  from  Lebanon,  &c., 
applying  this  to  ^Nebuchadnezzar  and  to  the  king 
of Judah  ? 

Thus,  then,  seeing  that  God  has  been  pleased 
to  make  use  of  types  lor  the  purpose  of  persua- 
sion, how  can  the  rabbins  be  blamed  when  they 
have  done  no  more  than  imitate  the  divine  ex- 
ample?    But  whoever  may  have  informed  the 
lord  archbishop,  that  there  are  Jews  who  affirm 
that  the  Messiah  came  immediately  after  the  de- 
struction of  the  temple,  and  that  the  sceptre  w^as 
lost  sixteen  hundred  and  thirty-two  years  since, 
must  have  been  very  little  versed  in  the  belief  of 
the  Jews  in  what  concerns  the  Messiah;  since  the 
nation  well  know  that  what  the  rabbins  intend 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


117 


, 


by  representing  the  Messiah's  birth  to  have  ta- 
ken place  on  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  is 
merely  to  signify  to  the  people  that  the  period 
of  redemption  is  ever  at  hand;  not  that  his  birth 
has  actually  and  truly  occurred,  but  that  it  may 
at  any  moment  occur. 

How  can  any  Jew  believe  that  the  Messiah 
has  come,  believing  as  he  does  that  the  purpose 
of  his  coming  is  to  collect  the  dispersed,  to  de- 
liver then)  from  oppression  and  persecution,  and 
to  |)luce  them  on  the  summit  of  happiness  and 
greatness,  rebuilding  their  city,  and  restoring  it 
and  their  temple,  and  both  more  sumptuously 
than  they  ever  were  before?  Not  seeing  any 
particle  of*  all  this  realized,  how  can  it  be  ima- 
gined that  an}'  Jew  believes  or  asserts  that  the 
Messiah  has  alreadj'  come?  Having  established 
this  incontrovertible  principle,  all  the  remainder 
of  section  xiv.  becomes  of  no  account;  as  is  also 
the  case  with  section — 

XV. — Wherein  it  is  stated  that  the  modern 
rabbins  affirm  that  the  Messiah  has  not  and  will 
not  come,  because  God  has  not  promised  it  in  the 
Scriptures,  nor  is  it  an  article  of  faith  with  the 
Jews.  Had  the  preacher  been  better  versed  in 
the  Jewish  creed,  he  would  not  say  this ;  for  the 
mere  assertion  that  the  coming  of  a  Messiah  is 
not  an  article  of  his  faith  would  be  deemed  here- 
sy among  the  nation.  However,  Francisco  An- 
tonio de  Olivares,  who  adopted  this  opinion,  is 


118  REFUTATION  OF  THE  SERMON  OF 

only  to  be  blamed  for  want  of  information,  liv- 
ing as  he  did  in  Portugal,  where  it  is  not  per- 
mitted to  have  or  to  read  any  works  relative  to 
the  Jewish  law;  moreover,  the  opinion  of  an  in- 
dividual is  not  sufficient  to  constitute  a  dogma 
or  form  a  sect. 

Isaiah  ix.  5,  ''Et  vocahitur  nomen  ejus,"  &c. 

In  order  that  the  reader  may  comprehend  the 
real  state  of  the  question,  it  appears  to  me  not 
only  convenient  but  absolutely  requisite  to  give 
the  verse  in  dispute  in  Latin,  as  well  as  in  tho 
Tulgar  tongue,  and  then  explain  each,  that  the 
discerning  reader  may  judge  which  of  the  two 
explanations  appears  the  more  correct,  more  con- 
sistent with  the  literal  sense,  and  more  conso- 
nant to  reason. 

The  Latin  version  given  by  the  preacher  says: 
''Infans  natus  est  nobis,  et  fiUus  datus  est  nobis,  et 
erit  principatus  super  humerum  ejus,  et  vocahitur 
nomen  ejus  Admirabilis  Consiliarius,  Deus  Fortis, 
Fater  Sempiternus  {Pater  Sempiternitatis,)  Princevs 
Fax."  ^ 

The  translation  differs  from  the  Hebrew  text. 
It  appears  that  the  preacher,  neglecting  the  pro- 
mise  that  he  set  out  with,  that  his  quotations 
should  be  always  conformable  to  the  original 
Hebrew,  and  not  to  the  Vulgate,  doubtless  be- 
lieving that  there  would  be  no  one  to  contradict 
him,  chooses  to  forget  to  have  recourse  to  the 
former  in  the  present  instance;   or,  to  speak 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


119 


more  plainly,  being  well  aware  that  the  contro- 
versy would  be  perfectly  untenable  without  some 
adulteration  in  the  text,  had  recourse  to  the  Vul- 
gate to  help  him  out  in  his  argument. 

In  the  first  instance,  he  puts  the  verb  vocahi- 
tur in  the  future  pa«8ivie,  according  to  which  the 
Hebrew  must  be  reiwl  veyicare  ^^^fj^.l  which, 
means  he  shail  be  called.  Now,  the  Hebrew  text 
is  vayicrd  ^^^p?]  ^  vocavit,  which  i-s  the  prete- 
rite active,  and  must  be  translated,  ^716?  he  called. 
Secondly,  he  puts  each  of  the  attributes  in  the 
nominative  case,  applying  them  all  to  the  Mes- 
siah; from  which  he  infers  that  the  Messiah  is 
God,  and  then  calls  him  a  powerful  (iod,  Ever- 
lasting Father,  Jfcc. 

Thirdly,  he  splits  up  the  last  attribute  into  two, 
turning  both  the  words  of  which  it  consists  into 
nominative  cases;  reading  thus  Princeps  Pax, 
whereas,  in  tho  Hebrew,  the  word  prince  is  in 
the  accusative  case,  governed  by  the  word  voca- 
bit,  and  the  word  peace  in  the  genitive,  thus 
making  Princlpem  PaciSj  which  means  Prince 
of  Peace,  not  two  separate  attributes,  as  the 
preacher  would  have;  as  is  evident  from  the  He- 
brew, which  reads  Dl^t^  ^^  Sar  Shalom,mesin- 
ing  Prince  of  Peace;  the  noun  ^';^ Sar  having 
the  (-)  patach  point,  indicates  the  genitive  case; 
whereas,  if  it  constituted  an  attribute  in  itself,  it 
ehotild  be  pointed  with  a  [j)kametz.    I  cannot 


120 


REFUTATION  OF  THE  SERMON  OP 


comprehend  then  how  iho  preacher  so  confident- 
ly and  so  readily  produces  tin's  verse,  asserting 
it  to  be  "conformable  to  your  Hebrew  text." 

^-^I^- — In  the  twenty-fourth  section,  he  pre- 
sumes to  mahVn  R.  A  ben  Ezra  and  11.  Solomon, 
who  have   exi)lained    this   proj)hecy   of  Isaiah, 
chapter  ix.  as  applying  to  King  llezekiah,  as- 
serting that  the  ibrmer,  though  convinced  from 
the  text  that  the  ^Jessiah  was  God,  yet,  out  of 
fear  that  they  might  eject  him  from  the  Syna- 
gogue, affirmed  that  the  passage  rtdated  to  King 
Hezekiah,  and  not  to  the  Messiah.     According 
to  these  assertions  of  the  preacher,  A  ben  Ezra 
believed  the  JVlessiah  to  be  God.    Supposing  this 
to  be  the  case,  why  should  ho  fear  being  expelled 
the  Synagogue  ?     He  might  have  renounced  the 
Jewish  law  and  gone  over  to  Christianity,  where 
he  would  have  been  favorably  received,  courted, 
and  applauded,  being  tamed  as  an  eminent  gram- 
marian, a  celebrated  astronomer,  and  an  excel- 
lent commentator,  who  kept  to  the  literal  sense, 
and  in  nowise  inclined  to  allegory,  as  may  be 
clearly  seen  in  his  general  commentary  on  the 
Bible.  '^ 

Permit  me,  reverend  father,  to  inquire  by  what 
means  your  eminence  came  to  the  knowledge 
that  R.  Aben  Ezra  became  convinced  that  the 
Messiah  must  be  God?  That  you  learned  it  from 
the  rabbi  himself  is  impossible,  seeing  that  he 
died  more  than  five  hundred  years  ago.     The 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


121 


rabbi  might  have  revealed  this  secret;  but  to 
"whom  could  he  reveal  it?  Certainly  not  to  a 
Jew ;  for  he  had  to  fear  the  consequences.  To  a 
Christian  ?  Not  so ;  for  it  would  have  been  a 
etain  on  the  reputation  of  so  learned  a  man  to 
have  professed  a  religion  which  he  could  not  de- 
fend, and  that  could  not  ensure  salvation :  we 
cannot,  then,  imagine  by  what  means  the  preach- 
er discovered  the  secret  sentiment  of  this  re- 
nowned rabbi.  Doubtless  any  Jew,  acquainted 
with  the  true  state  of  the  ease,  and  who  is  aware 
that  the  preacher's  intention  was  merely  to  in- 
veigle (no  matter  by  what  falsehoods)  the  con- 
sciences of  his  auditors,  the  pitiable  objects  of 
th"8  Auto  da  Fe,  will  in  his  heart  rejoice  at  per- 
ceiving to  what  arts  and  inventions  he  was  obliged 
to  have  recourse  in  order  to  maintain  his  sys- 
tem. 

"Eabbi  Solomon,  who  was  esteemed  a  Solomon 
among  all  the  Jews,  in  order  to  deceive  you,  pro- 
fessed the  same  opinion,"  &c.  Thi«  horrid  calum- 
ny was  framed  in  the  malevolent  brain  of  the 
neophyte,  Nicholas  de  Lira,  a  Norman,  on  find- 
ing himself  embarrassed  by  the  ^^vocavit  nomen 
ejus.**  (Isaiah,  chap,  ix.)  It  surprises  me  greatly 
that  the  Catholic  apostolic  Roman  lord  arch- 
bishop should  avail  himself  of  this  calumny,  when 
it  is  well  known  that  the  supreme  council  of  the 
Inquisition  at  Rome  will  not  receive  any  accusa- 
tion from  a  neophyte  against  a  Jew.     I  repeat, 


122 


REFUTATION  OF  THE   SERMON  OF 


it  does  surprise  ine  that  the  lord  archbishop 
should  admit  this  ridiculous  calumny,  when  we 
find  (book  xv.,  chapter  13,  De  Civitate  Dei)  that 
St.  Auffustin,  one  of  the  principal  doctors  of  the 
church,  affirms  it  to  be  incrcdihie  that  the  Jews 
should  have  vitiated  the  sacred  books.  Fir^t, 
because  it  appears  impossiMe  that  the}'  should 
all  have  concurred  in  so  vile  a  purpose,  dispersed 
as  they  are  throughout  every  part  of  the  world, 
without  findini^  some  one  among  them  to  o|>poso 
a  crime  of  such  enormity,  and  a  saciile^e  so 
abominable  as  iidsityinij  the  sacred  text;  hesides, 
"We  tind  all  the  Hebrew  manuscripts,  both  an- 
cient and  modern,  perketly  in  accordance  with 
each  other  in  every  point:  although  written  at 
various  periods,  and  in  remote  regio  is,  indicative 
of  inviolate  and  accurate  tidelity  Neither  ought 
"we  to  presume  (continues  the  same  St.  Augustin) 
that  so  numerous  a  people,  who,  in  their  captivi- 
ty, have  no  other  property  than  the  possession 
of  the  sacred  volumes,  would  consent  to  falsify 
them  to  gratify  the  malevolence  and  rancor  that 
they  might  entertain  against  any  other  nation  or 
people:  whence  he  concludes,  that  where  we  find 
a  ditierence  between  the  Hebrew  text  and  the 
Greek  version,  most  credit  ought  to  be  given  to 
the  Hebrew,  as  there  is  no  difficulty  in  suppos- 
ing that  the  Greek  interpreter  may  have  com- 
mitted an  error  of  translation.  He  termed  it  a 
ridiculous  calumny,  and  that  justly;  it  being  so 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANQANOR. 


123 


considered  and  reputed  by  the  whole  people  of 
Israel.     Indeed,  so  scrupulous  are  they,  that  if 
they  perceive  in  the  Book  of  the  Law  (which  is 
read  each  Sabbath  day  in  the  Synagogues)  a  single 
letter  more  or  less  than   there  ought  to  be,  al- 
though merely  explanatory,  and  not  in  the  least 
alterin_3j  the  sense  of  the  passage  or  of  the  words, 
that  book  is  immediately  laid  aside  and  another 
substituted  in  its  place.   The  rigid  notions  of  the 
Jews  go  still  farther  in  all  that  relates  to  the  word 
of  God;  for  if  it  should   happen  that  the  reader 
of  the  Pentateuch  should,  either  through  ignor- 
ance or  carelessness,  mispronounce  an}^  word  or 
accent,  that  might  in  any  degree  alter  the  mean- 
ing, he  must  repeat  the  whole  of  the  verse,  and, 
if  not  aware  of  his  error,  those  who  hear  him 
must  admonish  bin),  and  make  him  repeat  the 
verse  correctly.     This  being  the  practice  of  the 
Synagogues  throughout  the  nation,  on  discover- 
ing any   trifling  error,  written   or  pronounced, 
what  vvould  they  do  if  they  knew  or  suspected 
that  one  of  the  most  celebrated  rabbins  of  Israel, 
as  was  R  Solomon,  had  altered  the  text  of  Isa- 
iah?    Moreover,  if  our  excellent  Rabbi  Solomon 
interprets  this  prophecy  as  apjiertaining  to  Heze- 
kiah  (which  really  and  truly  it  does,  as  any  one 
may  see  who  looks  into  the  Prophecies  in  order 
to  understand  them,  and  not  to  pervert  them,  as 
will  be  hereafter  more  tally  shown),  what  neces- 
sity was  there  to  alter  or  corrupt  the  text?  For 


124 


REFUTATION  OF  THE  SERMON  OF 


admitting  it  to  bo  as  the  preacher  and  the  Vul- 
gate pretend,  Nipn  veyicare,  and   vocabitur,  no 
conclusion  can  be  drawn  from  this  that  will  mili- 
tate against  the  rabbi's  exposition;  and  he  micrht 
leave  the  vocahitur  without  exposing  himself  to 
the  censure  of  Jew  or  Christian.     R.  Solomon, 
then,  iiaving  interpreted  the  prr>phecy  as  relat- 
ing to  Ilezekiah,  and  havino   left  the  N^p^l  va- 
yicrd  and  vocavit  as  he  found  it,  it  folloVs'that 
he  was  not  the  one  who  altered  and  falsified  the 
text,  but  that  this  must  have  been  done  by  St. 
Jerome,  or  some  one  antecedent  to  him,  inasmuch 
as  it  appeared  to  then,   that  the  proj)hecy  could 
not  otherwise  be  explained  in  the  future  tense- 
and  by  this  wretched  emen<lation  they  hoped  to 
give  some  show  of  support  to  their  belief    How- 
ever, let  the  preacher  know,  that  the  Jews  have 
no  necessity  for  similar  acts  or  frauds  to  support 
theirs,  inasmuch  as,  being  the  word  of  God,  it 
can  maintain  and  defend  itself.     If  we  examine 
all  the  Hebrew  copies,  ancient  and   modern,  in 
any  part  of  the  world,  we  shall  find  that  nothing 
has  been  altered,  and  that  they  all  agree  and 
concur  in  giving  the  same  simple  truth. 

The  Jew  who  is  conscious  of  this,  will  not  fail, 
duly  to  appreciate  the  conduct  of  those,  who,  not 
content  with  vitiating  the  sacred  text  themselves, 
indulge  in  inventing  calumnies  as  groundless  as 
they  are  absurd,  against  the  most  faithful  and  ex- 
cellent expositor  that  ever  lived — a  man  justly 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANQANOR. 


125 


esteemed  and  venerated  by  the  whole  republic  of 
letters,  for  his  commentary  on  the  entire  Bil)le; 
namely,  the  Pentateuch,  the  early  and  later  Pro- 
phets, and  the  llagiograplia,  as  well  as  the  whole 
of  the  Mislinah,a?}d  nearly  all  the  Talmud,  consist- 
ing of  sixty-three  treatises,  arranged  in  twelve 
volumes  folio,  which  comprise  all  the  ceremonial, 
moral,  and  judi  -ial  laws,  all  of  them  explained  in 
correct  and  suitable  language,  and  in  a  laconic 
style  peculiar  to  himself,  so  remarkably  clear 
and  intelligible  that  no  one  can  apply  to  him, 
*^Du7n  arctlus  esse  volo  ohscurior  fio." 

Perceiving  that  the  vapors  of  auirer  were  con- 
densing into  an  opaque  cloud,  charged   with  a 
strong  but  just  resentment  against  my  reckless 
antagonist,  I  resolved  to  repress  tlie  warm  im- 
pulses of  my  excited  feelings,  and  content  myself 
with  laying  bef;)re  him,  in  the  mildest  terms,  the 
powerful  and  irrefragable  reasons,  which  should 
induce  him  to  retract  the  char<;es  he  has  broujxht 
against  this  profound  and  learned  rabbi,  who  was 
really  a  wise  Solomon,  who  never  deceived  (as  he 
asserts),  but  taught  and  ex|)lained,  to  all  the  en- 
lightened   nations  of  Europe,  the   written   and 
oral  laws,  whieh  the  Jews  believe  and  observe  in 
their  dispersion. 

The  preacher  corroborates  his  hypothesis,  or  to 
speak  more  correctly,  he  pretends  so  to  do,  from 
the  Chaldee  version  (made  by  the  learned  Jona- 
than, son  of  Uziel)  of  the  above-mentioned  verse 


126 


REFUTATION  OF  THE  SERMON  OF 


of  Isaiah,  translating  it  as  follows:  "AY  vorobitur 
Homen  ejus  Min  Kodain,  Deus  Fvrtis, pcrmanens  in 
scecula  sonnilorum  Messiits;"  oni  itting  the  end  ofthe 
verse,  M'ln'ch  says,  *'?/*  cujus  diebiis  multlplicabitur 
pajc."  Two  questions  here  present  themselves, 
first,  wh}'  he  omitted  to  translate  the  expression 
JUi/i  Kodam?  and  the  second,  why  he  suppressed 
the  end  of  the  verse? 

The  reply  to  these  two  points  will  make  mani- 
fest who  it  was  that  corrupted  the  text,  and  en- 
deavored to  deceive  the  world. 

The  inference  to  be  drawn  from  what  I  have 
before  stated,  bears  against  the  preacher,  inas- 
much as  it  proves  that  he  is  accustomed  to  alter, 
garble,  and  mutilate  the  text:  while  he  gives  his 
hearers  to  understand  that  he  translates  literally 
and  faithfully  from  the  Hebrew,  saying,  "Isaiali 
has  thus  written  in  the  ninth  chapter  of  his  pro- 
phecies, according  to  your  Hebrew  text.  ^Et  vo- 
cabltur  nomen  cjuSf  AdmirabUiSy  etc.  Fiinceps  Tax^^ 

Good  Heavens!  Has  not  the  preacher  just 
above,  accused  R.  Solomon  of  having  changed 
the  future  passive  vocabitur,  *'He  shall  be  called," 
into  the  active  form  vocavity  ^^Ile  called.;'^  thereby 
rendering  the  first  attributes  in  the  nominative, 
and  leavinjr  the  final  one  (the  Prince  of  Peace)  in 
the  accusative  ease  ?  and  here  we  see  him,  himself, 
altering  the  text,  and  translating  it,  not  in  the 
least  after  the  Hebrew,  but  according  to  his  own 
preconceived  notions,  just  as  he  has  done  with 


THE  ARCIIBISnOP  OF  CRANGANOR.  127 

the  Chaldce  paraphrase  of  Jonathan,  son  of  Uziel, 
from  which  he  has  copied  the  word  Min  Ko- 
dam  without  translating  it,  and  omitted  altoge- 
ther the  last  part  of  the  verse,  which  says,  ''In 
cujus  diebus  inulfipUcabitur pax'' 

Tiie  true  text  of  Jonathan  is  as  follows: ^^Et 

vocabitur  nomen  ejus,  afaeie,  vel  ab  Adnurabili  Con- 
siliario,  Deo  Potente,  Patre  JEternitatis,  Princeps 
Pacisr  "And  his  name  shnll  be  called  by  Him 
who  is  the  Wonderful  Counsellor,  iMighly  God 
and  P:verlasting  Father,  the  Prince  of  Peace  [that 
is,  the  Messiah],  in  whose  days  peace  shall  bo 
multiplied." 

The  first  four  attributes  are  of  God;  the  last, 
"the  Prince  of  Peace,  is  of  man,  and  in  Hebrew^ 
is  in  the  accusative  case,  being  governed  by  the 
active  verb  vocavit,  and  in  Chaldee,  in  the  nomi- 
native, as  in  regimen  with  the  passive  verb  voca- 
bitur.'* 

Min  Kodam  is  a  word  in  the  ablative  case, 
omitted  by  the  preacher,  because,  it  did  not  suit 
his  purpose  to  insert  it;  not  that  ^e  was  igno- 
rant of  its  interpretation,  since  in  chap.  vii.  11,  of 
the  very  same  prophet,  Isaiah  says  to  King 
Ahaz,  ''Pete  tibi  signum,  afaeie  Domini  Dei  tui," 
which  Montano  translates  in  these  words  (also 
taken  from  Jonathan),  ''Ask  a  sign  'from'  the 
Lord  thy  God."  Now,  we  shall  discover  the  rea- 
son  why  the  preacher  left  Min  Kodam  untransla- 
ted; for  had  he  given  its  meaning,  the  passage 


II 


128 


REFUTATION  OF  THE  SERMON   OF 


would  have  run  thus:  ^^Et  vocabititr  nomen  ejus, 
a  facie  Admirahilis  Consiliarii,  Dei  Potentes,  Patris 
^terriitatiSy  Principis  PaciSy  MessiaSj  in  cvjus  die- 
bus  multiplicabitur  pax.'*  "And  his  name  b^liall  be 
called  by  the  Wonderful  Counsellor,  the  Mi*;hty 
God,  Kverlasling  Father,  Prince  of  Peaoe,  Mcs 
siah,  in  whose  da^'s  peace  thall  be  multiplied." 
Aceording  to  this  rendering,  all  the  attributes 
belong  to  the  chiUl  (as  the  object  called),  who  is 
regarded  as  the  Messiah;  but  then,  who  is  to  be 
taken  for  the  agent,  who  calls?  Whereas,  by  in- 
Berling  the  words  3Iin  Kodam  (which  is  the  ab- 
lative case),  the  first  four  atti'ibules  belong  to 
God.  as  the  agent,  who  calls;  the  last  one  remain- 
in*'  to  the  child,  who  is  the  object  called.  From 
"what  has  been  already  said,  the  discreet  and  im- 
partial reader  will  be  satisfied  that  the  preacher 
has  altered  the  text,  both  in  the  Hebrew  and 
Chaldee,  arranging  the  words  in  a  way  to  make 
it  appear  that  the  Messiah  was  to  be  both  God  and 
Man.  But  I  should  wish  him  to  explain  why  he 
has  taken  so  much  trouble  to  mutilate  and  distort 
these  abstruse  verses,  when  alter  all,  if  the  whole 
point  were  conceded,  it  v.'ould  amount  to  no  more 
than  an  allegory,  resting  upon  a  false  foundation, 
and  in  direct  opposition  to  the  primary  article  of 
our  faith. 

It  would  have  been  much  easier  to  have  laid 
hold  of  that  article  itself  (the  principal  basis  of 
the  Jewish  religion),  which  says,  *'llear,  O  Israel, 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


129 


the  Lord  is  our  God,  the  Lord  is  one,"  and  given 
the  unfortunate  prisoners  of  the  tyrannical  inqui- 
sition to  understand  that  the  original  text  read, 
'^The  Lord  is  three  and  one,''  but  that  the  Jews 
corrupted  it,  by  omitting  two  words,  so  as  to  be 
read,  "The  Lord  is  one:'    He  might  have  added 
that  Rabbi  Solomon,  Aben  Ezra,  and  any  other 
rabbi  who  chanced  to  enter  his  mind,  was  the 
person   who  first   altered   the  above-mentioned 
verse,  and  that  before  his  time,  the  Jews  accept- 
ed  the  other  version;    and   that  the  moderns, 
through  their  hatred  to  the  Christians,  corrupted 
the  text;  and  here,  his  excellency  might  have  di- 
lated, displaying  his  rhetoric  in  that  discursive 
style  so  peculiar  to  himself;  by  which  means,  I 
can  assure  him,  he  w^ould  have  attracted  quite  as 
much  applause  and  approbation  as  he  has  derived 
from  the  arguments  which  he  has  employed:  nor, 
need  he  have  feared  contradiction  from  the  Chris- 
tians or  the  Jews;  not  from  the  Christians,  for 
that  would  not  have  suited  their  views;  and  as 
for  the  Jews,  they  were  too  illiterate  and  unin- 
formed; or  even  were  they  otherwise,  and  com- 
petent to  contradict  him,  full  sure  I  am  that 
none  among  them  would  have  dared  to  lift  up 
their  eyes,  much  less  their  voices,  against  him. 
On  the  contrary,  it  is  certain  that  their  heads 
would  bow  assent  to  whatever  he  might  choose 
to  advance. 
Gracious  Heaven!  how  truly  absurd  must  it 

M 


130 


REFUTATION  OF  THE  SERMON  OF 


appear  to  all  impartial  persons,  when  they  see  a 
man  eminent  in  his  profession,  of  high  rank  in 
the  prelacy,  disputing  with  persons  who  either 
cannot  or  dare  not  answer  him,  quoting  books 
which  they  are  not  allowed  to  read,  and  with  all 
this,  finds  it  requisite  to  distort  and  mutilate  pas- 
sages of  ihe  lloly  Scriptures  in  order  to  prove 
"what  he  attempts  to  inculcate. 

I  appeal  to  all  learned  and  unprejudiced  men 
living  in  countries  where  they  are  not  constrain- 
ed to  circumscribe  their  ideas  at  the  will  of  four 
illiterate  inquisitors,  if  such  a  display  would  not 
be  more  fit  for  a  farce  than  a  sermon,  for  a  thea- 
tre than  a  pulpit.  They  call  us  blind  because  we 
will  not  yield  our  reason  to  groundless  allegory; 
because  we  do  not  cede  the  leading  article  of  our 
faith  to  their  tortuous  and  perverted  expositions; 
but  what  ought  they  to  be  called  who  corrupt 
the  sacred  text,  who  lay  hold  of  part  of  a  chap- 
ter, discourse,  proposition,  or  verse,  without  no- 
ticing the  context  which  is  necessary  to  give  the 
genuine  sense,  in  order  to  apply  the  fragment  as 
they  please,  and  thereupon  raise  a  shout  of  vic- 
tory, as  if  their  opponents  had  been  really  and 
fairly  defeated? 

Does  the  learned  prelate  imagine  that  this 
course  will  convince  any  Jew  ?  He  is  deceived 
if  he  thinks  so;  for  on  the  contrary  it  fortifies 
him  in  his  belief;  and  instead  of  imitating  the  In- 
quisition, which  prohibits  every  book  that  argues 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


131 


against  its  religion,  we  publish  such  works  as  are 
written  against  us,  and  we  explain  them  to  our 
children,  that  they  may  know  the  truth  of  our 
reasoning  and  the  fallacy  of  theirs;  that  they 
may  gain  strength  in  the  true  belief,  and  that 
they  may  perceive  what  subterfuge  they  are 
driven  to  who  wish  to  distort  the  truth,  and  to 
what  contrivances  they  must  have  recourse  in 
order  to  maintain  their  opinions. 

That  the  impartial  reader  may  be  put  in  pos- 
session of  the  exact  truth  relative  to  the  prophe- 
cy in  question,  I  will  here  expound  its  genuine 
and  literal  sense  without  distortion  or  allegory, 
as  interpreted  by  the  most  eminent  and  authen- 
tic writers: 

Commencement  of  Chapter  VII. — Ilezin,  king  of 
Aram,  and  Pekah,  king  of  Israel,  had  laid  siege 
to  the  holy  city  of  Jerusalem;  but,  through  the 
gallant  resistance  of  the  citizens,  were  compelled 
to  raise  the  siege:  yet,  notwithstanding,  they 
carried  off  a  large  booty  and  a  great  number  of 
prisoners.  The  confederated  kings  formed  a  new 
alliance,  with  the  intent  of  renewing  the  siege 
with  larger  armies  and  increased  vigor.  This 
confederacy  threw  the  house  of  David  into  great 
consternation;  for  fear  that,  should  those  kings 
conquer,  they  would  put  an  end  to  the  sovereign- 
ty and  tlieir  kingdom;  and  the  people  were  no 
less  afraid  than  the  king.  Therefore  God  com- 
manded the  prophet  Isaiah  to  go  in  company 


■V 


i 


132 


REFUTATION  OF  THE  SERMON   OF 


with  his  son,  Shear  Yashuby  to  meet  Ahaz,  and  to 
tell  him  from  God  to  be  calm  and  to  comfort  his 
dejected  soul,  and  reanimate  his  lost  spirits,  and 
not  to  fear  these  two  firebrands,  who  were  more 
likely  to  take  fire  and  consume  themselves  than 
others:  that,  although  they  proposed  making  a 
complete  conquest  of  the  kingdom,  in  order  sub- 
sequently to  share  it  between  them,  he  prophe- 
sied to  them  that  such  an  idea  would  not  be  re- 
alized; but,  on  the  contrary,  Israel  (namely,  the 
ten  tribes),  at  the  expiration  of  seventy-five  years, 
would  cease  to  bo  a  nation,  would  be  totally  scat- 
tered and  laid  waste,  and  that  in  the  interim,  nei- 
ther one  king  nor  the  other  would  enlarge  the 
boundary  of  his  dominions,  each  remaining  with- 
in his  own  possessions.     God  commanded  Ahaz, 
in  order  to  gain  confidence  in  what  ho  had  fore- 
told him,  to  ask  for  a  sign  or  miracle,  whether  it 
be  in  the  highest  heaven  or  in  the  depths  of  the 
earth.    The  incredulous  king  excused  himself  un- 
der the  pretence  of  piety,  saying  that  he  ought  not 
to  require  proof  from  God,  whereas  the  true  mo- 
tive was,  the  little  faith  he  attached  to  the  words 
of  the  prophecy;  but  the  prophet,  displeased  with 
hisincredulity,8aid  that  God  would  give,although 
not  asked  for  by  the  king,  a  clear  and  manifest 
sign,  in  order  to  secure  the  belief  of  Judea  in  this 
prophecy;  namely,  that  the  young  woman  then 
pregnant  should  bo  delivered  of  a  son,  who  should 
be  named  Immanuel,  and  that;  before  he  should 


i 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OP  CRANGANOR. 


133 


attain  to  years  of  discretion,  the  two  confederated 
kings  would  be  totally  exterminated.  But  that, 
should  the  stubbornness  and  perversity  of  the  in- 
credulous king,  instead  of  contritely  rendering 
thanks  to  God  for  so  signal  a  deliverance,  induce 
him  obstinately  to  persist  in  his  iniquities,  he  gave 
him  notice  that  thereby,  Divine  justice  being  in 
the  highest  degree  provoked,  he  would  inevitably 
be  chastised  with  greater  rigor,  by  God's  allowing 
the  formidable  army  of  the  king  of  Assyria  to  take 
possession  of  all  the  strongholds  and  castles  of  Ju- 
dea; leaving  the  land  so  desolate  and  uncultivated 
—so  deficient  and  barren  of  cattle,  that  he  who 
possessed  one  calf  and  two  sheep  would  be  the 
largcstproprietor :  and  that  where, formerly, grew 
a  thousand  vines,  the  ground  should  become  a 
barren  waste,  full  of  thorns  and  thistles;  and  the 
most  fertile  hills  fit  only  to  give  pasture  to  cattle  ' 
for  want  of  men  to  cultivate  them. 

In  chapter  viii.  God  commands  the  prophet  to 
lake  a  scroll,  by  w^ay  of  confirming  the  prophecy, 
as  well  as  to  hand  it  down  to  posterity,  and  write 
thereon,  Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. 

The  prophet  executed  the  Divine  order,  took 
two  witnesses,  Uriah  and  Zechariah,  and  went 
unto  the  prophetess,  who  conceived  and  bore  a 
son.  He  named  him  (agreeably  to  the  order  of 
God)  Maher-Shalal'Hash-Baz,  intimating,  that  be- 
fore this  child  should  learn  to  call  "father"  and 
"  mother,"  the  king  of  Assyria  would  vanquish 


f 


134 


REFUTATION  OF  THE  SER3I0N  OF 


in  battle  the  two  allied  kings,  take  them  captive, 
and  carry  away  the  spoils  of  Damascus  and  the 
riches  of  Samaria. 

However,  as  there  existed  a  party  in  Judea 
who  were  anxious  for  the  success  of  Rezin  and 
Pekah,  and  secretly  opposed  the  reigning  fami- 
ly, God  ordered  the  prophet  to  predict  to  them, 
that  as  they  hated  the  mild  and  peaceful  rule  of 
the  house  of  David,  He  would  bring  upon  them 
the  formidable  armies  of  the  king  of  Assyria, 
who  should  occupy  the  whole  of  Judea,  until  they 
reached  the  capital  of  the  kingdom ;  but  that, 
notwithstanding,  He  would  assist  those  who  were 
faithful,  and  deliver  them  from  this  peril. 

The  prophet  then  reverts  to  the  two  allied 
monarchs,  assuring  the  Jews  that  all  their  ar- 
maments would  not  prevail,  and  that,  although 
they  might  use  their  greatest  exertion  and  labor, 
and  increase  their  forces  by  the  aid  of  various 
nations,  all  would  prove  ineffectual;  and  in  spite 
of  whatever  they  might  think,  their  object  would 
never  be  accomplished.  Ho  then  proceeds  to  tell 
them,  that  God  admonished  him  to  warn  them 
that  they  should  not  follow  in  the  steps  of  those 
who  wished  to  usurp  the  government,  or  who 
took  part  with  the  two  allied  kings.  That  he 
should  exhort  such  persons  to  defend  the  just 
cause,  to  confide  wholly  in  God,  and  to  fear  only 
the  Divine  Majesty,  who  would  protect  them. — 
That  this  prophecy  should  be  sealed  and  kept 


m 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


135 


close  among  the  learned  and  wise  men  until  the 
period  of  its  accomplishment.    The  prophet  also 
says,  although  at  present  God  has  withdrawn  or 
concealed  His  protection  from  us,  I  trust  in  His 
divine  mercy,  and  have  full  confidence  that  the 
desired  time  will  arrive,  when  it  will  be  clearly 
manifested,  inasmuch  as  I  and  my  children  are 
obvious  signs  of  what  is  to  happen  to  Israel; 
namelj^   Yesahyay  the  salvation  of  God;  Shear 
Yashubj  restoration  of  the  remnant,  which  indi- 
cate* that  those  who  remain  of  Judah  shall  re- 
turn to  their  pristine  state;  Maker- Shalal-IIash' 
Baz,  signifying,  that  shortly  and  quicklj'^  the 
prey  and  spoil  of  the  two  kings  would  follow; 
Imnanuely  or  God  with  us;  and  that  when  you 
are  required  to  consult  idols  and  oracles,  which 
always  speak  vaguely  and  obscurely,  j-ou  should 
answer  them  that  every  one  must  have  recourse 
to  his  own  God,  and  therefore  you  should  seek 
to  consult  the  prophets  and  the  professors  of  the 
most  holy  Law.   Idols  and  oracles  give  unfound- 
ed and  false  answers  to  those  who  consult  them; 
and  when  their  votaries  find  themselves  in  afflic- 
tion, assailed  by  misfortune,  hungering  and  thirst- 
ing, they  look  up  to  heaven  and  revile  their  god 
for  having  deceived  them  with  his  prophecy,  or 
impute  their  distress  to  the  bad  government  of 
the  king;  and,  finally,  when  persecuted  and  ha- 
rassed with  troubles,  see  nothing  before  them  but 
vexation  and  misery,  without  a  gleam  of  hope  of 


136 


REFUTATION  OF  THE  SERMON  OF 


deliverance.  Thus  it  fared  with  the  sons  of  Zebu- 
lun  and  Napthali  in  the  first  captivity;  and  still 
worse  in  the  second  with  those  who  were  carried 
captive  to  the  East  by  Tiglath  Pilcsser,  king  of 
Assyria. 

In  chapter  ix.  the  prophet  predicts,  that  the 
like  shall  not  occur  to  the  tribe  of  Judah ;  for, 
although  they  might  experience  the  gloom  of  a 
siege  and  the  horrors  of  war,  inasmuch  as  Sen- 
nacherib, king  of  Ass^-ria,  would  come  against 
them,  still  they  should  receive  the  light  of  salva- 
tion and  the  brightness  of  victory,  through  the 
intervention  of  His  divine  power,  by  which  the 
fame  of  the  nation  should  be  exalted  to  the  hiirh- 
est  point  of  glory  and  greatness;  that  with  in- 
describable joy  and  content  thoy  should  praise 
and  magnify  the  Eternal  and  Omnipotent  God, 
in  gratitude  for  so  signal  and  marvellous  a  deli- 
verance, with  all  the  demonstrations  of  pleasure 
evinced  by  the  farmer  when  gathering  in  his 
grain,  or  the  soldier  when  dividing  the  spoil. — 
That  the  armies  of  their  enemies  should  be  van- 
quished and  annihilated  by  miraculous  aid,  and 
without  any  of  the  danger  or  loss  of  life  which 
usually  befalls  the  conquerors  in  a  victory  at- 
tained by  natural  means;  for  that  the  victory 
would  resemble  that  achieved  by  Gideon  over 
the  Midianites  with  few  men,  without  loss  of 
life,  or  even  any  interference  on  the  part  of  the 
conquerors,  by  the  assistance  of  an  angel,  who 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


137 


would  destroy  the  hostile  army  with  the  same 
fierceness  as  fire  consumes  combustible  matter. 
That  this  would  happen  through  the  merits  of 
thai  child  (already  born),  on  whose  shoulders 
the  burden  of  the  monarchy  would  rest  with  diff- 
nity,  and  would  be  named  by  Ilira  who  is  the 
Wonderful  Counsellor,  Mighty  God,  the  Father 
of  Eternity,— the  Prince  of  Peace,  (or,  if  the  noble 
preacher  will  so  have  it,  let  him  be  called  by  the 
name  of  Wonderful  Counsellor,  Powerful,  Migh- 
ty Father  of  Eternity,  Prince  of  Peace,)  who 
should  extend  the  empire,  which  should  enjoy  a 
perpetual  peace,  whereby  the  tottering  throne 
of  David  would  be  established  on  a  foundation 
of  justice  and  charity  forever;  and  that  the  Lord 
of  Hosts  had  decreed  that  all  this  should  come 
to  pass.     The  prophet  proceeds  to  say,  that  God 
having  chastised  the  Ten  Tribes  of  Israel,  in  or- 
der that  they  might  repent  and  turn  away  from 
their  sins,  the  chiefs,  with  the  rest  of  the  people 
confiding  in  the  alliance  of  the  king  of  Aram^ 
proudly  and  presumptuously  asserted  that  they 
were  to  be  restored  to  a  state  equal,  or  even  su- 
perior, to  their  former  condition;  however,  God 
would  show  them  the  little  worth  of  that  alli- 
ance by  stirring  up  Kczin's  enemies  against  him, 
and  giving  them  power  to  conquer  him  in  battle, 
and  that  afterwards  He  would  so  bring  it  to  pass, 
that  these  same  Aramites  on  the  one  hand,  and 
the  Philistines  on  the  other,  should  attack  and 


.   i-Xl 


4 


* 


138 


REFUTATION  OP  THE  SERMON  OP 


conquer  Israel  with  great  slaughter,  without  the 
divine  wrath  being  thereby  appeased. 

The  word  Ely  in  Hebrew,  signifies  strong ^  and 
is  an  epithet  indiscriminately  applied  to  God  and 
man,  and  when  applied  to  the  latter  does  not  sig- 
nify Divinity,  but  merely  power,  greatness,  or 
oflicial  station,  thus: 

3Nn  "Sx,  Ele-Moab :  princes  or  valiant  men  of 
Moab. 

ryy^sh  d'hSk  ynnj,  I  have  made  thee  superior  to 
Pharaoli. 

CD^nSx  p>''t^">'  niyx,  whom  the  judges  shall  con- 
demn. 

Thus,  with  great  propriety,  we  may  apply  the 
title  of  "^ui  Sx,  El  Giborj  to  llezekiah,  indicating 
thereby  that  he  would  be  a  valiant  hero,  a  great 
captain;  this  is  confirmed  by  passages  in  Scrip- 
ture, describing  him  as  a  man  of  valor  (2  Kings, 
chapter  xx.  20):  ^*And  the  rest  of  the  acts  of  He- 
Eckiah,  and  all  his  might,"  &c. 

The  words  ij?  ^3i<,  AU  *ad,  which  the  preacher 
translates  Pater  jEternitatiSj  is  translated  b}"  Mon- 
tano  (in  a  marginal  note),  Pater  Secull,  Father  of 
the  Age;  to  bo  convinced  that  this  is  correct,  we 
need  only  refer  to  the  Sacred  Text. 

After  the  separation  of  the  Ten  Tribes  from 
those  of  Judah  and  Benjamin,  the  pious  and  de- 
vout kings  of  the  former,  namely,  Asa,  Jehosha- 
phat,  Jotham,  although  they  anxiously  endea- 
von-'d  to  ct^tablish  divine  Avorship  in  their  own 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


139 


kingdom,  abstained  from  interfering  with  that 
of  Israel,  either  from  its  appearing  to  them  im- 
possible to  restore  it,  owing  to  the  contumacy  of 
their  kings,  or  through  fear  that  any  communi- 
cation between  Israel  and  Judah  would  be  likely 
to  infect  the  latter  with  their  detestable  worship 
of  idols.  Whereas,  llezekiah,  the  father  of  the 
age^  the  common  father  of  both,  taking  as  much 
care  of  the  strayed  sheep  that  were  not  under 
Lis  charge  as  of  those  sheltered  in  his  own  sheep- 
fold,  wrote  letters,  despatched  couriers,  and  sent 
qualified  persons  to  all  the  towns  and  cities  of 
Israel,  exhorting  the  Israelites  to  return  to  the 
worship  of  the  true  God,  and  to  leave  the  ac- 
cursed calves;  and,  with  his  wonderful  counsel, 
managed  this  great  w^ork  so  admirably  as  to 
bring  back  the  alienated  Jews  to  the  true  wor- 
ship, as  appears  from  chapter  xxx.  1,  of  the  2d 
Eook  of  Chronicles:  "llezekiah  also  sent  to  all 
Israel  and  Judah,  and  wrote  letters  to  Ephraim 
and  Menasseh,  inviting  them  to  come  to  Jerusa- 
lem, to  the  house  of  the  Lord,  to  celebrate  the 
Passover  of  the  Lord  God  of  Israel;"  and  by  tho 
same  wonderful  counsel  he  transferred  the  Pass- 
over to  the  second  month ;  thus  it  is  said:  "And 
the  king  took  counsel  with  his  princes  and  with 
all  the  congregation  in  Jerusalem  to  celebrate 
the  Passover  in  the  second  month."  This  ena- 
bled them  all  to  celebrate  it  together;  and  that 
many  of  the  Israelites  actually  did  come  appears 


140 


KEFUTATION  OF  THE  SERMON  OP 


from  the  same  Book,  chapter  xxx.  11:  "More- 
over, men  of  the  tribes  of  Asher,  Menasseh,  and 
Zebulun  humbled  themselves  and  came  to  Jeru- 
salem;" and  in  verse  eighteen  it  says:  "For  many 
of  the  people  of  Ephraim  and  Menasseh,  Issachar 
and  Zebulun  had  not  purified  themselves,  yet  ate 
of  the  Passover,  contrary  to  what  was  command- 
ed; but  llezekiah  prayed  for  them,  saying:  *0 
God!  who  art  benevolent,  be  merciful  to  all  those 
who  have  prepared  their  hearts  to  seek  thee !'" 

It  will  thus  be  seen  how  just  a  claim  he  had 
to  the  title  of  father  of  the  age  and  wonderful 
counsellorj  in  having  taken  so  much  care  to  re- 
store them  to  favor  with  God.  That  he  was  the 
Prince  or  Arbiter  of  Peace,  there  can  be  no  doubt. 
For  what  person  in  that  age  would  venture  to 
oppose  Almight}^  God,  who,  by  so  many  prodi- 
gies, had  proclaimed  himself  the  protector  of  lle- 
zekiah; since  He  sent  an  angel  to  be  the  comman- 
der of  his  armies,  a  prophet  to  heal  his  diseases, 
and  ordered  the  sun  to  retrograde  in  its  diurnal 
course  in  order  to  confirm  his  prophecies  by  this 
marvelous  event,  which  caused  Baladan,  king  of 
Babylon,  to  send  ambassadors  to  inquire  into  this 
miracle,  and  to  seek  his  alliance? 

From  the  above-mentioned  chapters,  translated 
literally,  and  applied  to  the  actual  persons  of 
whom  they  treat,  we  find  that  the  sign  the  pro- 
phet gave  to  Ahaz  was,  that  the  young  woman 
had  conceived,  and  that  she  would  give  birth  to 


THE  ARCHBISHOI*  OP  CRANGANOR. 


141 


a  son  who  should  be  called  Immanuel.  The  pro- 
phet had  taken  two  faithful  witnesses  to  record, 
namely,  Uriah  and  Zechariah;  and  succeeding 
events  were  found  to  bo  in  perfect  accordance 
with  the  prophecy.  The  prophet  went  to  the 
young  woman,  who  was  his  wife;  she  conceived 
and  gave  birth  to  a  son :  him  they  named  Imma- 
nuel, and  before  he  had  arrived  at  years  of  dis- 
cretion the  designs  of  the  two  allied  monarchs 
were  rendered  abortive. 

Such  then  is  the  literal  exposition  of  this  pro- 
phecy; and  to  attempt  to  dispute  it  would  bo 
only  arguing  in  opposition  to  facts.  Indeed,  such 
an  attempt,  in  the  eyes  of  those  who  have  stu- 
died the  Scriptures  free  from  all  bias,  must  ap- 
pear a  virtual  acknowledgment  of  defeat,  and  a 
mere  display  of  weakness.    Moreover,  this  mira- 
cle or  sign  was  given  to  Ahaz  and  the  house  of 
David,  in  order  to  certify  to  them  that  the  kings 
of  Samaria  and  Aram  would  not  follow  up  their 
intentions,  and  that  their  designs  would  be  frus- 
trated. How  then  could  a  sign  be  given  to  them 
to  indicate  what  was  to  happen  in  the  course  of 
about  seven  hundred  years,  in  order  to  show 
w^hat  was  to  occur  within  two  or  three  years P  and 
how  could  the  prophet  say  (from  an  event  which 
was  to  occur  about  seven  hundred  years  subse- 
quently), "  It  shall  come  to  pass,  that  before  the 
child  shall  know  to  distinguish  between  bad  and 
good,  the  land  you  hate  shall  be  bereft  of  its  two 


0 


142 


REFUTATION  OF  THE  SERMON  OF 


king8?"  Are  not  these  two  kings  Kczin,  king  of 
Aram,  and  Pckah,  king  of  Israel  ?    And  is  it  not 
clearly  meant  that  they  should  both  be  defeated 
and  conquered  in  battle,  and  should  lose  their 
kinffdoms?     How,  then,  to  assure  them  of  Avhat 
was  to  occur  in  their  lifetime,  could  he  give  them 
a  sign  from  what  was  to  happen  seven  hundred 
years  later,  and  this  to  an  incredulous  and  idola- 
trous king  like  Ahaz:  would  it  not  have  exposed 
the  prophet  to  the  derision  of  the  king  and  his 
court?  Most  assuredly  it  would;  and  the  learned 
among  the  Christians,  who  study  this  prophecy 
impartially,  are  not  ignorant  of  this,  and  conse- 
quently agree  that  such  is  the  true,  literal,  and 
genuine  sense,  as  confessed  by  Eusebius  Basili- 
us,  Geronimus  Cirilius,  and  Theodoretus,  among 
the  ancients;  and  there  are  but  few  among  the 
well   informed   moderns  w^ho  do  not  acquiesce 
therein,  and  admit  that  even  the  allegorical  sense 
is  not  solely  applicable   to   Christ,  but   might 
equally  be  adapted  to  any  other  person,  without 
perverting  or  straining  the  text :  whence  we  see 
that  those  erudite  and  wise  men  knew  that  the 
allegorical  sense  is  not  compulsory,  and  there- 
fore is  insufficient  to  constrain  the  Jews  to  ad- 
mit it.  All  are  agreed  that  the  prophecy  explain- 
ed literally  is  clear  and  obvious,  and  not  in  the 
least  degree  perplexed  or  obscure ;  and  that  it 
was  fulfilled  a  few  years  afterwards,  as  the  pro- 
phet predicted,  to  the  very  letter. 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


148 


But  this  is  not  the  case  when  we  attempt  to 
apply  it  in  an  allegorical  sense  to  Ciirist;  for  it 
then  becomes  obscure,  confused,  and  inappropri- 
ate, and  compels  us  to  resort  to  the  corrupt  text 
of  the  Vulgate  to  render  it  applicable,  and  even 
that  will  not  be  found  sufficient. 

1  flatter  myself  that  I  have  placed  this  pro- 
phecy in  such  a  light  as  to  show  my  co-religion- 
ists (as  is  the  purport  and  scope  of  my  refuta- 
tion) how  little  reason  the  learned  preacher  has 
to  exult  over  this  passage :  and  he  could  only  do 
BO  among  those  whose  ignorance  rendered  them 
unable  to  discern  the  truth,  or  whose  dread  of 
punishment  prevented  their  proclaiming  it. 

The  preacher,  in  confirmation  of  his  hypothe- 
sis, refers  to  chapters  xxiii.  and  xxxiii.  of  Jere- 
miah, gives  the  verses  five  and  six  of  chapter 
xxiii.,  and  attempts  to  explain  them  after  his 
own  views,  as  alluding  to  the  Messiah;  stating 
that  the  prophet  says,  "That  a  just  king  will 
come,"  &c.,  and  'Hhat  king  will  be  called  Deus  Jus- 
tus )ioster."  However,  he  takes  no  farther  notice 
of  chapter  xxxiii.;  and,  deeming  his  bare  asser- 
tion sufficient,  unhesitatingly  affirms  that,  from 
the  verses  of  these  two  chapters,  it  is  evident 
that  the  Messiah  must  be  God  and  man.  I  am 
not  surprised  at  his  omitting  verses  fifteen  and 
sixteen  of  chapter  xxxiii.;  for  he  has  done  a  simi- 
lar thing  in  the  sixth  paragraph,  wherein  he 
quotes  from  chapter  xlii.  of  Isaiah,  in  which  God 


»J 


144 


REFUTATION  OF  THE  SERMON  OF 


*% 


threatens  his  people  with  chastisement  and  cala- 
mities, and  omits  the  forty-third,  that  immedi- 
ately follows,  wherein  He  encourages  and  con- 
soles them  with  affection  and  tenderness.  Let 
us  examine,  then,  these  two  verses,  by  which 
means  we  may  penetrate  into  the  true  cause  of 
this  omission  :  "7n  Biebus  illis  salvabitur  Juda,  et 
Jerusalem  habitabit  confidentery  et  hoc  est  nomen  vo- 
cabunt  eum,  Dominus  Justus  noster."  I  know  not 
to  what  we  are  to  refer  this  eum  masculine,  when 
the  Hebrew  says  n^  (lah),  a  pronoun  feminine, 
which  can  only  refer  to  the  city  of  Jerusalem ; 
this  being  indubitably  the  case,  the  verso  must 
mean  Jerusalem  shall  be  called  "God  is  our  right 
or  justice:"  this  same  word  is  applied  to  the  Mes- 
siah in  chapter  xxiii.  Now,  as  the  preacher  says 
that,  since  he  is  so  called,  he  must  be  both  God 
and  Many  it  would  follow  that  Jerusalem,  bear- 
ing a  similar  name,  is  at  the  same  time  God  and 
City.  The  like  I  say  of  the  altar  erected  by  the 
patriarch  Jacob  in  Shechem  (Genesis,  chap,  xxxiii. 
20).  The  like  of  that  erected  by  Moses  for  the 
victory  obtained  over  Amalek,  w^iich  he  called 
"  God  is  my  standard."  The  same  with  the  altar 
of  Gideon,  which  he  called  "God  of  peace  j"  and, 
finally,  the  same  with  Jerusalem,  when  the  pro- 
phet Ezekiel,  in  the  last  verse  of  his  book,  says, 
that  Jerusalem  will  bo  called  "  God  is  there." — 
Now,  to  conclude  my  observations  on  this  point, 
the  reverend  preacher  should  be  told,  that  the 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


145 


hymn  he  names,  which  is  chaunted  in  the  Syna- 
gogue on  every  Sabbath  and  Holiday  evening,  is, 
in  fact,  a  declaration  of  the  articles  of  the  Law 
which  the  Jews  profess,  and  that  the  third  of  tho 
said  articles  declares  that  God  is  incorporeal,  and 
consequently  is  7iot  Maiiy  which  article  of  tho 
creed  is  derived  from  various  parts  of  the  Bible. 
Moses  says,  addressing  the  people  (Dent.  chap, 
iv.  12):  "And  God  spoke  to  you  from  amidst  the 
fire;  you  heard  a  voice  speaking,  but  you  saw 
no  similitude,  only  a  voice;"  and  farther  says 
(Deut.  chap.  iv.  15),  "  Take  good  heed  to  your- 
selves; for  ye  saw  no  similitude  on  the  day  that 
God  spoke  to  you  out  of  the  midst  of  the  fire;" 
and  continues,  charging  them  strenuously  not  to 
make  a  likeness  of  any  manner  of  creature.    Ba- 
laam, although  a  gentile,  says :  ''God  is  not  Man 
that  ho  should  lie,  nor  the  Son  of  Man  that  he 
should  repent."     The  holy  prophet  Samuel  said 
to  King  Saul :  "  Surely,  the  Strength  of  Israel 
will  not  lie,  nor  repent;  for  he  is  not  Man  that 
he  should  repent."  ''Etetiamfortitudo  Israelis  non 
inentietur  nee  poenitiidine  ducetur;  non  enim  homo 
est  nt  poeniteat  illum*^ 

Ezekiel  said  to  Hiram,  king  of  Tyre,  who 
boasted  of  being  a  god:  "Perchance  thou  mayest 
venture  to  say  before  the  assassin,  I  am  God; 
then  thou  shalt  be  made  to  know  that  thou  art 
but  man,  not  a  god,  when  in  the  power  of  thy 
murderer/'    ^'Nunquid  dicendo  Deus  sum,  coram 


I    f 


i 


(I 


146 


BEFUTATION  OF  THE  SERMON  OF 


^ 


interfectore  tuo;  tu  autem  Homo  eSj  et  non  Dens,  in 
manu  interfectoris  tui:"  finally,  God  says  through 
His  prophet :  "  I  will  not,  according  to  the  fury 
of  my  wrath,  I  will  not  again  do  injury  to  Eph- 
raim;  for  I  am  God,  and  not  Man/'  '^JS^on  faciam 
secundum  iram  furoris  mei,  non  revertar  ad  disper- 
dendum  Ephraim,  quoniam  Bens  sum  et  non  VirJ* 

These  are  the  pillars  on  which  this  most  im- 
portant article,  the  immateriality  of  God,  rests; 
"which,  if  any  Jew  should  deny,  ho  would  not 
only  be  considered  a  heretic,  but  a  renegade,  and 
forfeit  among  his  people  all  claim  to  the  denomi- 
nation of  Jew :  can  it  then  be  imagined  that  the 
nation  will  cease  to  believe  an  article  so  clear, 
and  so  frequently  reiterated  by  the  prophets,  to 
follow  the  exposition  contended  for  by  the  rever- 
end father? 

Thus  the  honor  of  the  learned  Rabbi  Solomon 
stands  vindicated  and  cleared  from  the  vile  ca- 
lumny of  having  falsified  the  words  of  the  pro- 
phets; and  sufficient  proof  has  been  given  that, 
as  a  Jewish  theologian,  ho  could  not  believe  or 
imagine  that  chapter  ix.  of  Isaiah,  and  chapters 
xxiii.  and  xxxiii.  of  Jeremiah  declare  that  the 
Messiah  must  be  Man  and  God, 

The  same  remark  will  apply  to  the  eminent 
Eabbi  Aben  Ezra;  to  Jonathan,  the  son  of  Uziel, 
and,  finally,  to  every  son  of  Israel,  no  matter 
how  uninstructed  or  ignorant.  However  this 
may  be,  I  cannot  but  express  my  astonishment 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR.  147 

that  the  preacher,  who  endeavors  to  make  it  ap- 
pear that  Jonathan,  the  son  of  Uziel,  infers  from 
the  words  (in  chapter  ix.  of  Isaiah,  ver.  6),  "/;i. 
fans  natus  est;'  that  the  Messiah  is  God,  does  not 
avad  himself  of  his  authority  and  countenance 
in  chapter  xxiii.  and  xxxiii.  of  Jeremiah,  but 
uses  the  Hebrew  text  alone,  without  adverting 
to  the  Chaldee  paraphrase;  and  that  he  should 
exercise  his  ingenuity  in  again  calumniating  the 
innocent  but  persecuted  Rabbi  Solomon,  charo-. 
ing  him  with  having  ililsified  the  text  in  chapter 
xxiii  of  Jeremiah,  and  venture  to  assert  that  the 
true  reading  gives  :  "And  this  is  the  name  that 
they  shall  call  him/'  not  "that  He  shall  call  him  " 
Tvhich  latter  he  treats  as  a  corruption  introduced 
by  the  rabbi;  and  that  he  should  quote  the  text 
of  chapter  xxiii.,  where  he  makes  the  prophet  de- 
Clare  that  the  Messiah  is  God,  and  omits  to  quote 
from  chapter  xxxiii,  where  precisely  the  same 
language  is  applied  to  the  city  of  Jerusalem. 

What  reply  can  he  make  to  this?  that  he  does 
^ot  pretend  to  say  that  the  city  of  Jerusalem  is 
God.  Granted;  but  why,  then,  does  he  set  up  a 
general  axiom,  affirming  that  the  Tetragramma- 
ton  IS  applied  to  none  other  but  God,  when  in 
fact  we  find  it  applied  to  inanimate  objects,  such 
as  altars  and  cities  ?  Agreeably  to  his  axiom,  all 
these  things  must  be  gods;  he  may  endeavor  to 
solve  the  difficulty  by  saying  that  man,  as  the 
most  noble  of  all  creatures,  was  alone  capable  and 


J 


148 


REFUTATION  OF  THE   SERMON  OF 


% 


worthy  of  being  united  with  the  Deity;  to  this  I 
answer,  I  only  know  that  God  has  declared,  by 
the  mouth  of  Ilis  prophet  Ilosea,  "I  am  God  and 
not  Man,"  and  I  need  say  no  more. 

XXV.  and  XXYI. — The  preacher  goes  on  to 
say,  that  the  rabbins  explain  the  prophecy  in 
chapter  ix.  of  Isaiah  as  relating  to  Ilezekiah, 
and  in  chapters  xxiii.  and  xxxiii.  of  Jeremiah, 
to  David  and  Zerubabel.  As  regards  Isaiah,  the 
preacher  is  correct  in  affirming  that  the  rabbins 
aj^ply  the  passage  to  Ilezekiah,  and  I  am  of  the 
same  opinion,  as  may  be  seen  by  the  exposition 
of  the  prophecy  above  given,  where  I  have 
shown  that  the  first  verses  of  chapter  ix.  treat 
of  nothing  else  but  the  miraculous  triumph  that 
Israel  gained  over  Sennacherib;  according  to 
such  view,  the  two  parts  of  the  chapter  agree  in 
alluding  to  one  and  the  same  event;  and  there 
is  no  occamon  to  interpret  it  as  referring  to  the 
Messiah,  who  is  sufficiently  spoken  of  in  many 
other  passages  of  the  Bible.  As  to  the  two  chap- 
ters of  Jeremiah,  I  know  no  rabbi  who  thinks 
they  allude  to  any  one  else  but  the  Messiah. 

The  preacher  bestows  needless  labor  in  at- 
tempting to  prove  that  Eabbi  Solomon  has  falsi- 
fied the  text,  and  in  ridiculing  the  exaggeration 
of  the  writers,  who  relate  of  the  eminent  Jona- 
than, that  a  fly  passing  over  any  of  his  writings 
was  instantly  consumed.  Had  the  preacher  re- 
flected that  the  rabbinical  style  is  frequently 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


149 


figurative,  he  would  have  perceived  that  the 
above  cited  metaphorical  passage  merely  implied 
that  this  great  man  was  so  studious  and  atten- 
tive during  his  meditations  on  the  Law,  that, 
should  any  worldly  thought  intrude  on  his  mind 
while  so  engaged,  it  was  instantly  subdued  and 
annihilated. 

XXYII. — The  reverend  preacher  takes  great 
pains  to  prove  that  the  passage  in  chapter  ix.  of 
Isaiah  speaks  of  the  Messiah;  and  to  this  end' 
brings  forward  a  host  of  rabbins,  ancient  and 
modern,  as  of  that  opinion.     Although  we  have 
had   sufficient  evidence   already   of  how   littlo 
weight  can  be  attached  to  the  preacher's  pre- 
tended proofs,  I  am  willing,  for  the  sake  of  ar- 
gument, to  waive  my  objections,  and  will  be  lib- 
eral enough  to  invite  all  Israel  to  take  it  for 
granted,  as  he  says;  for,  after  all,  the  principal 
question  (summa  rerum)  is  to  ascertain  if  the 
Messiah  truly  is  God. 

XXXIII.— Our  author  alleges  that  the  rab- 
bins, finding  themselves  in  difficulty  on  points 
proposed  to  them,  could  find  no  means  to  extri- 
cate themselves,  except  by  vitiating  the  text; 
but  they  had  no  necessity  to  vitiate  the  text, 
since  we  see  that  the  aforementioned  article  of 
their  creed  directly  forbids  any  Jew  to  believe 
that  God  can  be  also  man. 

XXXIY. — XXXIX. — These  are  answered  by 
the  aforementioned  article  of  belief.    In  the  23d 


IP 


150 


REFUTATION  OF  THE  SERMON   OP 


chapter,  we  grant  that  Jeremiah  speaks  of  tho 
Messiah ;  but  not  that  he  says,  nor  that  it  can 
possibly  be  inferred  from  his  words,  that  the  Mes- 
siah is  God. 

XI^I. — Two  rabbins  are  herein  named,  viz:  E. 
Osscas  and  K.  Simeon  ben  Jochay.  Hubbi  Osseas 
never  appeared  in  rerum  natura.  There  is  not 
and  never  was  a  rabbi  of  that  name.  The  other, 
who  he  affirms  flourished  many  years  before 
Christ,  was  not  in  existence  till  more  than  a  cen- 
tury after,  and  in  no  book  attributed  to  him  do 
we  find  what  the  preacher  has  stated;  and  fiir- 
ther,  were  such  an  opinion  to  appear  in  any  book 
that  has  come  down  to  us  (which  we  absolutely 
deny),  that  rabbi  would  bo  condemned  as  a  re- 
negade, and  his  doctrine  would  carry  wilh  it  no 
weight  whatever. 

XLII. — The  same  reply  may  be  made  to  this 
section,  namely,  that  whoever  believes  or  writes 
that  the  Messiah  is  God  and  Man,  is  no  Jew; 
that  is  to  say,  he  does  not  profess  the  Law  of 
Moses,  consequentlj'  his  doctrine  cannot  influence 
ns  as  Jews.  Towards  the  end  of  this  same  sec- 
tion, the  observation  made  in  the  sixth  is  repeat- 
ed, and  a  quotation  given  from  chapter  xlii.  ver. 
22  of  Isaiah,  *^Ipse  autem  pojndus  direptus  et  vas- 
tatus.**  In  addition  to  what  I  have  already  re- 
marked upon  this  passage,  I  refer  the  reader  to 
chapter  xliii.,  which  annihilates  all  that  the 
preacher  advances;  for  it  states  clearly  that  Is- 


TIIE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANQANOH. 


151 


rael  is  God's  people,  and  that  redemption  is  as- 
surcd  to  them  in  accordance  with  the  statements 
in  the  preceding  chapter. 

XLIII.  and  XLiy.— The  reverend  father 
boasts,  with  much  confidence,  of  having  con- 
vinced  tho  Jews  by  chapter  xlix.  verse  10  of  Ge- 
nesis, ^'^^on  aufcretur  sceptnim  a  Juda,  nee  scriba 
defemore  ejus  donee  veniat  Shilo  (pel  qui  mittendus 
est)  et  ipse  aggregatio  populorum."  But  he  should 
be  informed  that  he  is  much  deceived  in  his  con- 
ception of  this  prophecy.  It  must  be  kept  in 
mind,  that  the  name  Judah  represents  four  very 
diftorent  objects,  and  is  capable  of  as  many  dif- 
ferent acceptations,  as  is  taught  in  the  schools. 

It  may  be  received  for  Judah,  the  son  of  Jacob, 
as  in  this  same  chapter  (Genesis  xlix.  ver.  8), 
where  it  is  said:  -'Judah,  thou  art  he  whom  thy 
brethren  shall  praise,  the  sons  of  thy  father  shall 
bow  down  to  thee." 

It  may  bo  received  solely  for  the  tribe  of  Ja^ 
dah,  as  in  verse  ten  of  tho  abovementioned  chap- 
ter, where  it  is  said  :  "  The  sceptre  shall  not  de^ 
part  from  Judah."  Again,  it  may  be  taken  for 
the  two  tribes,  Judah  and  Benjamin;  because, 
subsequently  to  the  separation  of  the  Ten  Tribes, 
all  the  kings  who  reigned  over  the  two  are  called 
kings  of  Judah,  as  tacitly  comprising  that  of 
Benjamin ;  finally,  it  may  be  taken  for  tho  Twelve 
Tribes,  which  form  the  whole  body  of  Israel,  as 
in  Jeremiah,  chap,  xxxiii.  ver.  11,  where,  speak- 


152 


REFUTATION  OP  THE  SERMON  OF 


ing  of  the  Messiah,  it  says :  "  In  those  days  Ju- 
dah  shall  be  saved,  and  Jerusalem  shall  be  in- 
habited in  safety."  Here,  evidently,  the  name  of 
Judah  is  used  to  denote  all  Israel. 

This  incontrovertible  principle  being  establish- 
ed, we  are  compelled  to  receive  the  name  of  Ju- 
dah in  verse  ten,  where  it  says:  **That  the  scep- 
tre shall  not  depart  from  Judah,"  as  meaning 
neither  the  individual  nor  the  Avhole  nation,  but 
the  single  tribe.  Not  the  individual;  for  we  can- 
not suppose  that  the  patriarch  understood  that 
his  son  Judah  would  live  and  reign  until  the  Mes- 
siah came,  or  that  the  verse  really  meant  that 
the  sceptre  should  not  depart  from  Judah  himself 
until  the  Messiah  came.     Nor  was  it  meant  to 
express  the  whole  nation;   for,  as  Jacob  was 
blessing  his  sons,  each  separately,  one  by  one,  it 
is  evident  that  he  is  addressing  himself  to  Judah 
individually  J  and  prophesies  to  him  in  the  words: 
"Non  auferetur  sceptrum  a  Juda"  that  the  sceptre 
shall  remain  permanently  in  his  tribe  without 
ever  passing  into  the  hands  of  any  of  the  others; 
accordingly,  the  preacher  cannot  plead  in  ar- 
gument against  the  Jews  that  the  sceptre  de- 
parted from  the  nation  on  the  birth  of  Christ, 
■who,  in  his  opinion,  was  the  Messiah,  inasmuch 
as  the  sceptre  of  Judah  had  failed  many  years 
antecedently  in  king  Zedekiah,  without  ever  re- 
turning to  Judah;  and,  this  being  indisputably 
the  case,  it  follows  necessarily  that  the  prophe- 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


153 


cy  is  either  false,  or  wrongly  explained.     In  or- 
der to  obviate  these  difficulties,  it  must  be  ob- 
served that,  by  understanding  this  prophecy  in 
a  literal  sense,  as  in  reason  we  ought  to  do,  wo 
shall  perceive  that  it  contains  no  allusion  to 
the  Messiah,  nor  to  any  period  later  than  the 
epoch  of  the  separation  of  the  kingdoms  of  Is- 
rael  and  Judah;  much  less  does  it  treat  of  the 
tribes  as  members  of  the  body  of  the  nation, 
excepting  in  one  instance,  and  that  indirectly 
and  incidentally.     That  it  does  not  treat  of  the 
Messiah  is  fully  proved  by  the  circumstance  re- 
lated in  Scripture,  that  the  holy  patriarch  hav- 
ing assembled  his  sons,  proceeded  to  describe  to 
them  what  was  to  happen  at  the  end  of  days. 
(Genesis,  chapter  xlix.  ver  1.)     It  might  appear 
at  first  sight,  from  this  passage,  as  if  ho  intended 
to  make  some  allusion  to  the  Messiah,  always 
supposing  that  the  expression,  the  end  of  days,  is 
to  be  understood  as  denoting  the  period  of  the 
Messiah,  in  accordance  with  chapter  ii.  ver  2  of 
Isaiah,  where  the  prophet,  describing  the  supreme 
felicity  of  that  epoch,  says:  »^And  it  shall  come  to 
pass  at  the  end  of  days,  or  in  the  latter  days,  that 
the  mountain  of  the  Lord's  house  shall  be  estab- 
lished on  the  summit  the  mountains,"  &c. 

This  prophecy  we  find  confirmed  in  Micah, 

chapter  iv.  ver.  1,  in  precisely  the  same  words. 

The  prophet  Jeremiah  also  makes  use  of  the 

same  terms,  when  describing  the  prosperity  of 

0 


# 


154 


REFUTATION  OF  THE  SER^ION  OF 


Israel  at  the  epoch  of  the  Messiah,  in  chapter 
XXX.  ver.  24,  and  the  prophet  Ezekiel  in  chapter 
xxxviii.  ver.  IG. 

The  holy  patriarch  then  having  used  the  same 
words,  it  might  naturally  enough,  at  first  sight, 
bo  supposed  he  was  speaking  of  the  Messiah,  as 
before  remarked ;  but,  when  we  come  to  investi- 
gate more  closely  what  he  said  on  that  occasion, 
we  shall  find  that  he  neither  alluded  to  the  Mes- 
siah, nor  to  the  people  of  Israel  in  general.  This 
is  clearly  evinced  by  what  he  said  to  his  sons; 
since,  as  to  Reuben,  he  only  reproved  him  for  his 
conduct  with  Bilha,  also  Simeon  and  Levi  for 
their  rash  conduct  towards  Shechem  on  account 
of  Dinah,  (Judah  we  shall  notice  immediately.) 
To  Zebulun  he  predicted  that  the  territory  allot- 
ted to  him  would  be  maritime.  To  Ashcr,  that 
his  country  would  be  fertile  and  pleasant;  and, 
in  short,  there  is  nothing  said  about  the  Mes- 
siah. 

It  is  true  that  all  Christian  commentators,  and 
many  of  the  Jews  explain  the  words :  "JVbn  au- 
feretur  sceptrum  a  Juda;"  "The  sceptre  shall  not 
depart  from  Judah,"  &c.,  figuratively,  as  relat- 
ing to  the  Messiah;  however,  the  literal  transla- 
tors among  the  Jews  only  understand  it  to  indi- 
cate the  separation  of  the  kingdom  of  Israel 
from  that  of  Judah,  interpreting  the  prophecy  in 
the  following  manner :  "  Thee,  Judah,  thy  bre- 
thren will  praise,  and  bow  down  to  thee;  for 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


155 


thou  art  intrepid  as  a  lion,  and  supremacy  will 
be  conceded  to  thee.  The  rule  thou  possessest 
over  the  whole  nation  will  continue  undivided 
until  the  Shilonite  shall  come,  who  will  separate 
the  Ten  Tribes  from  the  two  others;  and  then 
to  him,  that  is  to  say,  to  Judah,  it  will  be  left  to 
gather  together  certain  people,  meaning  the  two 
tribes  of  Judah  and  Benjamin,  with  the  priests 
and  Levites  dispersed  throughout  all  Israel,  who 
will  quit  their  glebe-land,  habitations,  and  pro- 
perty, and  assemble  in  Jerusalem,  as  well  as 
many  other  pious  Israelites,  who,  imitating  the 
priests  and  Levites,  will  fix  their  residence  in 
the  country  of  Judah,  in  order  not  to  abandon 
the  holy  and  divine  worsliip  professed  by  their 
pious  and  devout  ancestors." 

That  such  is  the  genuine  and  literal  sense  of 
the  prophecy  concerning  Judah  there  can  be  no 
doubt,  from  the  numerous  reasons  that  support 
this  exposition,  and  from  the  many  irrefragable 
objections  thai  arise  against  a  figurative  expla- 
nation, as  we  shall  proceed  to  prove. 

The  first  objection  is,  that  the  allegorists  seek 
by  violently  torturing  the  word  Shiloh  to  make 
it  imply  the  Messiah,  when,  in  fact,  it  is  the  name 
of  a  famed  city  in  the  Holy  Land,  wherein  the 
Ark  of  God  reposed  during  three  hundred  and 
sixty-nine  years^  having  been  placed  there  by 
Joshua,  as  may  be  seen  in  chapter  xviii.  verse  1 
of  the  Book  of  Joshua,  in  which  it  is  named  seven 


ft 


.& 


156 


REFUTATION  OF  THE  SERMON  OF 


dill' 


'^ 


times;  in  Judges,  six;  in  the  first  book  of  Sam- 
uel, eiglit  times;  in  the  first  book  of  Kings,  twice; 
in  Jeremiah,  four  times;  in  Psalms,  once;  thus 
making  twenty-eight  times  in  all  that  it  has  been 
named  in  the  Bible.     The  prophet  Ahijah,  the 
iShilonite,  is  named  in  1  Kings,  chapters  xi.,  xii., 
and  xiv.,  proving  clearly -and  literally  that  Shiloli 
Avas  the  name  of  a  cit}',  and  the  prophet  Ahijah 
a  native  of  that  city;  I  know  not,  then,  what 
could  induce  the  allegories  to  construe  the  name 
of  a  city  so  well  known  in  a  sense  so  remote  from 
its  true  signification.  The  second  objection,  which 
appears  unanswerable,  militates  against  Jonathan 
son  of  Uziel,  and  Onkelos,  for  having  framed  an 
allegory  on  a  principle  that  has  not  only  been 
contested,  but  is  actually  contradicted  by  the 
evidence  of  facts,  affirming,  as  they  do,  that  the 
sceptre  would  not  fail  Judah  until  the  advent  of 
the  Messiah,  whereas  they  must  have  known 
that  it  did  fail  in  the  Babylonian  captivity, — 
and  that  the   nation,   after   being  re-establish- 
ed in  Judea,  and  living  under  subjection  to  the 
Persians  and   Greeks,  at   length   succeeded   in 
breaking  and  throwing  off"  the  heavy  and  cruel 
yoke  of  the  latter,  and  took  for  themselves  kings 
from  the  tribe  of  Levi,  and  not  from  that  of  Ju- 
dah,— and,  when  these  became  extinct,  they  chose 
Ilerod  and  his  descendants  for  their  kings,  until 
nearly  the  end  of  the  second  temple,  when  the 
Bceptro,  that  is,  what  little  power  had  remained 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR.  157 

in  the  nation,  ceased  altogether  until  the  present 
time. 

In  proceeding  to  investigate  this  formidable 
objection,  we  are  first  compelled  to  suppose  that 
two  eminent  sages  like  these  could  not  be  so  rash 
as  to  frame  an  allegory  so  contradictory  to  the 
literal  sense;  for,  if  what  the  allegory  represents 
be  true,  what  the  patriarch  says  must  be  false, 
as  proved  by  the  preceQing  quotations.  Next  it 
becomes  necessary  to  explain  the  allegory  in  a 
manner  not  only  that  it  may  be  seen  not  to  con. 
tradict  the  prophecy,  but  that  it  may  indicate 
something  of  the  same  tendenc}'. 

The  learned,  both  Jews  and  Christians,  ever 
prefer  the  literal  sense  to  the  figurative.     The 
rabbins  clearly  say,  in  the  Treatise  on  the  Sab- 
bath, chapter  v.,  that  "the  Sacred  Text  can  never 
be  diverted  from  its  literal  signification;''  and 
Cornclio  a  Lepide,  in  his  Canons  on  the  Penta- 
teuch, Can.  40,  says :  «7w  sensu  literali  omnis  sen^ 
tenticc  omniaque  verba  debent  expUcare  et  accommo- 
dari  rd  significatce,  id  autem  non  est  necesse  in  sensu 
allegoricor    Allowing  this,  we  find  that,  accord- 
ing  to  the  paraphrases  of  Jonathan  and  Onkelos, 
the  literal  sense  of  the  patriarch's  prophecy  is 
contrary  to,  and  incompatible  with  the  allegori- 
cal  interpretation ;  for,  agreeably  to  that,  from 
the  time  King  David  held  the  sceptre,  the  sove- 
reignty should  never  have  failed  from  the  house 
of  David,  which  is  the  same  thing  as  to  say  from 

0* 


!  -V 


to 

I 


158 


REFUTATION  OF  THE  SERMON  OF 


the  tribe  of  Judah.     ''Sed  sic  est/'  that  it  did  fail 
in  Zedekiah,  the  last  king,  at  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem,  without  ever  returning  to  that  tribe, 
as  was  seen  in  the  second  temple;  ergo,  conform- 
ably to  the  allegory  of  these  sages,  we  are  con- 
strained to  say,  either  that  the  patriarch's  pro- 
phecy was  false  (which  woukl  be  an  odious  he- 
resy and  horrid  blasphemy),  or  that  the  two  al- 
legorists  knew  not  how  {o  adapt  the  allegorical 
to  the  literal  sense;  this  woukl  be  a  paradox,  as 
the  interpretation  given  b}-  them  of  many  pas- 
sages in  the  Bible,  that  would  otherwise  have 
appeared  tons  incomprehensible,  clearly  evinces 
the  knowledge  and  capabilities  of  these  most 
eminent  sages.  The  dilKculty  is  greatly  enhanced 
on  seeing  that,  since  the  destruction  of  the  se- 
cond temple,  till  the  present  time,  the  sceptre 
has  fiiiled  in  Israel;  how,  then,  can  we  ever  re- 
concile the  allegory  with  the  prophecy,  since  the 
allegory  confidently  affirms  that  the  sceptre  will 
never  fail  in  Judah,  whereas  the  prophecy  neither 
promises  nor  indicates  any  such  thing?  The  only 
mode  I  can  see  of  solving  this  formidable  diffi- 
culty, is  to  draw  a  distinction  between  posses- 
sion and  jurisdiction,  and  to  understand  the  text 
conformably  to  the  allegorists,  as  representing 
the  patriarch  to  speak  of  jurisdiction,  not  of  ac- 
tual posscssioTif  which  will  serve  to  make  the 
Bense  of  the  prophecy  clear. 
'*  Judah  (said  the  holy  patriarch),  thy  brethren 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


159 


will  cede  the  superiority  to  thee,  thy  father's 
children  will  bow  dow^n  to  thee,  for  thou  art  in- 
trepid, and  bold  as  a  lion."  If,  in  any  time,  Judah 
should  forfeit  the  crow^n,  and  the  sceptre  pass  into 
another  tribe,  the  patriarch  assures  him  that  he 
has  nothing  to  fear,  for  what  ho  had  lost  would 
bo  merely  the  possession  for  a  limited  time;  the 
jurisdiction  always  remaining  intact  and  reserv- 
ed, to  be  enjoyed  as  a  perpetual  possession  in  the 
person  of  the  future  Messiah. 

Nevertheless,  as  the  greater  number  of  com- 
mentators are  ever  inclined  to  view  the  phrase, 
"Non  aufcrctiir  sccptrum  a  Jiida/'  as  a  prophecy 
assuring  this  tribe  of  a  continued  and  uninter- 
rupted empire  until  the  coming  of  the  Messiah, 
I  find  it  requisite  to  invalidate  this  opinion,  and 
to  prove,  from  various  passages  and  prophecies 
in  the  Holy  Bible,  that  God  had  many  times 
threatened  his  incorrigible  people  with  the  down- 
fall of  their  crown  and  destruction  of  their  king- 
dom. 

In  Leviticus,  chapter  xxvi.  ver.  33,  God  says : 
"I  will  scatter  you  among  the  nations,  and  draw 
out  a  sword  after  you,  and  your  land  shall  be  de- 
solate, and  your  cities  waste.'' 

Here  we  read  of  dispersion,  desolation  of  the 
land,  and  the  destruction  of  cities.  Things  in- 
compatible with  the  crown  and  sceptre. 

In  Deuteronomy,  chapter  iv.  ver.  27,  we  read, 
"And  the  Lord  shall  disperse  you  among  the 


m 


160 


REFUTATION  OF  THE  SERMON   OF 


nations,  and  ye  shall  be  left  few  in  number 
amonfj  the  heathen,  whither  the  Lord  shall  lead 
you/' 

In  chapter  xxviii.  ver.  36,  Moses  says:  "The 
Lord  will  bring  thee,  and  thy  king  whom  thou 
wilt  set  over  thee,  unto  a  nation  which  neither 
thou  nor  thy  fathers  have  known." 

From  these  texts  in  the  Pentateuch  may  clear- 
ly be  inferred  the  total  destruction  of  the  king- 
dom, and  the  complete  dispersion, of  the  nation. 
I,  therefore,  cannot  perceive  whence  is  derived 
this  boasted  certainty  of  the  permanency  of  the 
kinfjdomof  Judah  till  the  advent  of  the  Messiah. 
1  am  aware  I  shall  be  told  that  this  promise  is 
made  perfectly  obvious  and  clear  in  2  Samuel, 
chapter  vii.  verses  15  and  16,  where  God  says  to 
David,  speaking  of  his  son  Solomon,  "  But  my 
mercy  shall  not  depart  from  him,  as  I  took  it 
from  Saul,  whom  I  put  away  before  thee ;  and 
thine  house  and  thy  kingdom  shall  be  establish- 
ed forever  before  thee :  thy  throne  shall  be  es- 
tablished forever." 

In  1  Kings,  chapter  ix.  ver.  3,  to  the  11th  in- 
clusive, in  a  vision  that  appeared  to  Solomon, 
after  having  dedicated  the  temple,  God  said  to 
him,  that  He  had  accepted  his  dedication,  and 
that  His  name.  His  eyes,  and  His  heart,  would 
attend  on  that  house  perpetually,  and  that,  if  ho 
would  follow  the  steps  of  David  his  father,  serv- 
ing Him  with  a  perfect  and  upright  heart;  and 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


161 


observe  Ilis  precepts,  that  He  would  establish  his 
throne  perpetually  over  Israel,  as  He  had  pro- 
mised to  His  servant  David,  saying,  "There  shall 
not  fail  thee  a  man  upon  the  throne  of  Israel;  but 
if  you  should  turn  from  following  me,  yourself,  or 
your  children,  and  will  not  keep  my  command- 
ments and  my  statutes,  which  I  have  set  before 
you,  but  go  and  serve  other  gods,  and  worship 
them :  then  will  I  cut  off  Israel  out  of  the  land 
which  I  have  given  them  ;  and  this  house,  which 
I  have  hallowed  for  the  sake  of  my  name,  will  I 
cast  out  of  my  sight,  and  Israel  shall  be  a  pro- 
verb and  a  byword  among  all  people;  and  at 
this  house,  which  is  now  so  high,  every  one  that 
passeth  by  it  shall  be  astonished,  and  shall  hiss, 
and  exclaim.  Why  hath  the  Lord  done  this  unto 
this  land  and  to  this  house?  And  the  reply  shall 
be,  Because  they  forsook  the  Lord  their  God, 
who  brought  forth  their  fathers  out  of  the  land 
of  Egypt,  and  they  resorted  to  other  gods,  and 
they  worshipped  them  and  served  them ;  there- 
fore hath  the  Lord  brought  upon  them  all  this 
evil." 

This  revelation  and  promise  explain  what  God 
would  do  for  David,  from  "which  we  may  incon- 
testably  infer,  that  the  greatness,  the  happiness, 
and  the  perpetuity  of  the  sovereignty  which  God 
promised  David  and  Solomon,  were  only  condi- 
tionalj  and  not  absolute.  Although  secundum  al- 
egata  et  probata,  my  hypothesis  is  already  firmly 


m 


162 


REFUTATION  OF  THE  SERMON  OP 


ostablislicd,  to  the  effect  that  God  never  did  pro- 
mise the  patriarch  Jacob,  or  king  David,  or  king 
Solomon,  his  son,  the  perpetuity  of  the  crown 
(at  least  until  the  advent  of  the  Messiah),  I  will, 
by  way  of  putting  the  question  forever  at  rest, 
proceed  to  show,  that  so  far  from  such  promise 
iiaving  ever  been  made,  God  revealed  to  ]>avid 
the  profanation  of  the  temple,  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem,  and  the  cruel  massacre  of  the  people; 
all  which  David  bitterly  bewails  in  Psalm  Ixxix., 
wherein  ho  says :  *'  O  Lord !  the  heathen  are 
come  into  thine  inheritance;  thy  holy  temple 
have  they  defiled :  they  have  laid  Jerusalem  in 
heaps;  the  dead  bodies  of  thy  servants  have  they 
given  to  be  meat  to  the  fowls  of  heaven ;  the 
flesh  of  thy  saints  unto  the  beasts  of  the  earth  1 
Their  blood  have  they  shed  like  water  round 
about  Jerusalem,  and  there  was  none  to  bury 
them."  The  remainder  of  the  Psalm  is  filled  with 
lamentation  over  the  calamities  of  the  nation. — 
This  Psalm  was  cither  composed  by  Assaph,  the 
Levite,  a  musician  of  the  holy  house,  and  dedi- 
cated to  David,  or  may  have  been  composed  by 
David  himself,  and  dedicated  to  Assaph,  as  may 
bo  inferred  from  chapter  xxv.  of  Ist  Chronicles: 
and  as  all  the  Psalms  were  of  divine  inspiration, 
we  must  conclude  that  God  chose  to  reveal  to 
David  the  future  destruction  of  Jerusalem ;  nor 
will  it  avail  to  say,  that  David  speaks  of  his  own 
time,  deploring  the  losa  of  some  battle,  the  result 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR.  163 

of  which  constituted  the  misery  that  the  Psalm- 
1st  describes.  It  will  not  avail,  I  say,  to  use  a 
frivolous  subterfuge,  it  being  obvious  to  us,  that 
David  never  had  a  battle  but  wherein  he  was 
victorious;  and  it  is  a  notorious  fact,  that  tho 
gentiles  never  did,  in  his  time,  either  enter  Jeru- 
salem, defile  the  temple,  or  demolish  the  holy 
city;  and  that  the  massacre  described  in  tho 
Psalm  never  took  place.  Ergo,  this  must  have 
been  a  prophetic  revelation  to  David  or  to  Assaph, 
whence  it  may  be  deduced  that  David  knew  that 
God's  promise  of  perpetuity  of  the  sovereignty 
in  his  family  was  condiiional,  not  absolute. 

To  silence  criticism  effectually,  and  leave  no 
room  for  contradiction,  it  will  be  sufficient  mere- 
ly to  read  Psalm  cxxxii.  11,  12,  where  it  says, 
"The  Lord  hath  sworn  in  truth  unto  David,  ho 
will  not  turn  from  it,  Of  the  fruit  of  thy  body 
will  I  set  upon  thy  throne.  If  thy  children  will 
keep  my  covenant  and  my  testimony  that  I  shall 
teach  them,  their  children  shall  sit  upon  thy 
throne  for  evermore." 

From  these  verses  we  see  that  David  himself 
acknowledges  that  the  perpetuity  of  the  king, 
dom  and  his  family,  previous  to  the  coming  of 
tho  Messiah,  was  to  be  conditional,  and  not  abso- 
lute. We  might  also  quote  the  Psalm  cxxxvii. 
which  represents  the  people  as  captives  in  Baby- 
lon; but  there  being  no  title  attached  to  this 
Psalm,  and  there  being  many  who  suppose  it  to 


i 


M 


*m 


1 


/  4 


1-1 


1G4 


REFUTATION  OF  THE  SERMON  OF 


Lave  been  compogcd  in  Babylon  by  some  feeling 
and  pious  person  (although  such  is  not  my  opin- 
ion), I  will  not  make  use  of  it,  more  especially  as 
I  consider  that  the  arguments  already  adduced 
have  established  my  hypothesis  on  an  indestruc- 
tible foundation. 

XLY.  and  LII.— In  order  to  prove  his  assump- 
tion, the  preacher  recurs  to  the  statue  in  INebu- 
chadnezzar's  dream,  interpreting  the  three  first 
metals,  gold,  silver,  and  copper,  to  mean  the 
three  monarchies,  Chaldean,  Persian,  and  Greek, 
and  applies  the  fourth,  iron,  to  Iloman,  ascribing 
the  potter's  clay  to  the  Jewish  kingdom,  which 
was  not  united  with  the  iron,  but  mixed  with  it,— 
mixed,  that  is  to  say,  by  the  alliance  that  exist- 
ed between  the  Eomans  and  the  Jews,  by  virtue 
of  which  the  Romans  were  obliged,  in  case  of  war, 
to  succor  and  defend  them,  lie  then  adds,  that 
the  stone  without  hands,  that  struck  the  statue 
and  reduced  it  to  powder  forever,  scattered  and 
destroyed  the  clay,  together  with  the  four  me- 
tals. 

I  would  ask  the  Lord  Archbishop,  supposing 
that  Israel  is  doomed  to  remain  permanently 
scattered  and  destroyed,  what  necessity  would 
there  be  for  the  Messiah?  and  for  whom  need  he 
to  come?  who  would  there  be  to  enjoy  the  pro- 
mised greatness  and  happiness  during  the  period 
of  his  reign?  How  would  the  prophecy  be  ac- 
complished that  Jeremiah  proclaims  (chap,  xxiii. 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OP  CRANGANOR. 


165 


5),  "Behold,  the  days  come,  saith  the  Lord,  that 
I  will  raise  unto  David  a  righteous  Branch,  and 
a  just  king  shall  reign  and  prosper,  and  shall  do 
justice  and  charity  in  the  land;  in  his  days  shall 
Judah  be  saved, and  Israel  shall  dwell  in  safety" 
&c.? 

The  same  is  confirmed  in  chap,  xxxiii.,  ver.  15 
and  IG,  and  also  in  ver.  17,  where  it  says,  "Thus 
saith  the  Lord,  There  shall  not  be  cut  off  from 
David  a  man  to  sit  on  the  throne  of  the  house  of 
Israel."  Kow  if  the  destruction  of  Israel  had 
been  typified  by  the  crumbling  of  the  clay  of  the 
colossus,  according  to  the  hypothesis  of  the  arch- 
bishop, over  whom  is  this  just  and  charitable 
king  to  reign?  Who  are  the  people  that  are  to 
enjoy  his  mild  dominion?  What  nation  will 
have  the  merit  to  attain  the  favor  of  his  protec- 
tion? 

It  is  a  dangerous  experiment,  by  means  of  any 
such  ill-explained  and  misapplied  allegories,  to 
attempt  to  convince  the  nation  among  whom 
it  has  never  been  the  practice  to  swerye  from  the 
literal  sense  of  Holy  Writ,  and  that  with  good 
reason  and  justice,  as  the  literal  word  of  God  is 
pure,  clear,  unalterable,  inviolable,  and  incontro- 
vertible, whilst  allegory  is  merely  a  frail  human 
invention,  frequently  inapplicable,  and  when  ap- 
plicable, oftener  conducing  to  error  than  to  truth. 

Besides  the  incontestable  proofs  quoted  from 
the  prophet  Jeremiah,  an  infinite  number  more 


,<►. 


m 


166 


REFUTATION  OF  THE   SERMON  OP 


f ' 


m 


might  be  collected  from  all  the  prophets;  how- 
ever, I  shall  confine  myself  solely  to  confuting 
the  false  proposition  which  the  preacher  ventures 
to  advance  (namely,  that  the  breaking  in  pieces 
of  the  clay  of  the  statue,  is  to  be  interpreted  as 
applicable  to  Israel),  and  endeavor  to  convince 
him  by  the  words  of  the  prophet  Daniel,  chap- 
ter ii.  ver.  44.  "Forro  tempore  regum  istorum  susci- 
tavit  Deus  coeli  regnum  quod  in  externum  non  cor- 
rumpitur,  et  regnum  istud  poptilo  alteri  non  relinque- 
ter;  comminuet  et  consumat  omnia  ista  regna,  et  ip- 
sum  stahit  in  ceternum  /" 

"But  in  the  days  of  these  kings  the  God  of 
Heaven  will  raise  up  a  kingdom  that  will  never 
be  destroyed,  and  the  kingdom  shall  not  be  sur- 
rendered to  any  other  people;  but  it  shall  break 
in  pieces  and  consume  all  these  kingdoms,  and  it 
shall  stand  forever!" 

The  toes,  partly  of  iron,  and  partly  of  clay,  in- 
dicate that  a  portion  of  the  kingdom  should  re- 
main firm,  and  the  rest  be  broken  up.  It  cannot 
be  inferred  that  there  are  two  kingdoms,  as  the 
preacher  imagines;  but  merely,  that  there  is  one 
kingdom,  part  of  which  will  be  strong,  and  the 
other  part  weak.  ErgOj  he  cannot  affirm  that 
the  clay  is  a  filth  kingdom,  indicating  the  Jew- 
ish empire. 

XL VIII. — Our  author  proceeds  with  much 
confidence  to  assert,  that  the  prophet  foretells  that 
the  advent  of  the  Messiah  would  take  place  while 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OP  CRANGANOR. 


167 


the  Eoman  empire  and  the  Jews  were  still  min- 
gled together;  and  that,  on  his  coming,  he  would 
destroy  in  the  Jews  the  clay  of  their  kingdom, 
and  in  the  Eomans  the  iron  of  their  empire;  for 
from  the  ruins  of  these  two  dominions  would 
arise  the  kingdom  of  the  Messiah,  which,  &c. 

From  this,  he  brings  to  bear  against  the  Jews 
a  dilemma,  which  appears  to  him  to  be  irrefut- 
able, alleging  that  the  Eoman  empire  is  no  long- 
er  mingled  with  the  kingdom  of  the  Jews;  nor  is 
the  kingdom  of  the  Jews  mingled  with  that  em- 
pire, for  that  both  these  powers  are  destroyed; 
and  goes  on  to  say,  that  the  kingdom  of  Christ 
is  now  spread  all  over  the  world,  and  denies  that 
the  Messiah  can  come  after  that  destruction,  but 
that  the  destruction  was  to  follow  his  coming. 
So  formidable  does  the  preacher  consider  this  di- 
lemma, that  he  persuades  himself  the  Jews  will 
remain  convinced  and  confuted,  without  having 
a  word  to  say  in  reply;  but  he  does  not  consider 
what  has  been  stated  and  proved  above,  namely, 
that  in  this  colossal  statue  there  was  no  sub- 
stance whatever  that  indicated  the  Jews.     This 
having  been  already  clearly  established,  we  see  the 
chimerical  invention  of  the  preacher's  dilemma, 
as  completely  fallen,  demolished,  and  crumbled 
into  dust,  as  the  statue  of  JS^ebuchadnezzar  itself. 
To  confirm  this  fact,  it  will  be  sufficient  merely 
to  read  the  beginning  of  Daniel  chapter  vii.,  where 
he  relates  seeing,  in  a  vision,  the  same  four  mo- 


168 


REFUTATION  OP  THE  SERMON  OP 


I 


i 


narchies,  which  Nebuchadnezzar  had  seen  repre- 
Bented  by  the  four  metals,  gold,  silver,  copper, 
and  iron,  depicted  to  him  under  the  type  of  four 
"wild  beasts, — a  lion,  a  bear,  a  tiger,  and  another, 
whose  figure  he  only  describes  as  monstrous,  hide- 
ous, and  most  dreadful  in  form  and  aspect. 

If  then  this  vision  of  Daniel  was  the  counter- 
part of  that  of  Kebuchadnezzar,  with  this  single 
difference,  that  the  emblems  in  the  one  case  consist- 
ed of  metals,  and  in  the  other  of  animals,  it  fol- 
lows, that,  as  in  Daniel's  we  count  only  four  ani- 
mals, representing  the  four  monarchies,  so  in 
Kebuchadnezzar's  the  number  must  also  be  four. 

To  convince  the  Jews  by  means  of  allegories, 
is  as  futile  as  to  attempt  retaining  water  in  a 
sieve;  for  the  Ilebrow  nation  never  abandons 
the  literal  sense  of  the  Scriptures;  concluding, 
and  with  reason,  that  the  literal  sense  is  the  true 
word  of  God,  pure,  sincere,  inviolable,  and  infal- 
lible, while  allegory  is  nothing  more  than  a  con- 
jecture, an  idea,  a  presumption,  a  chimera,  con- 
cocted from  the  slender  materials  that  the  circum- 
scribed knowledge  of  the  human  mind  can  supply. 

The  preacher  explains  the  metals  in  Nebuchad- 
nezzar's statue,  according  to  the  principles  which 
he  considers  suited  to  his  own  purpose,  and,  con- 
trary to  the  fact,  represents  the  Eoman  empire 
as  already  destroyed.  To  see  this  more  clearly, 
it  must  be  noticed,  that  the  Persians,  who  con- 
quered the  Babylonian  monarchy,  destroyed  and 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OP  CRANGANOR. 


169 


annihilated  it  in  a  manner  that  it  remained  extra 
rerum  naturamy  as  we  learn  from  the  sacred  Scrip- 
tures, and  from  the  history  of  those  times,  which 
explains  the  statue^s  remaining  without  the  head 
of  gold.  The  Persian  monarchy  was  subverted 
and  demolished  by  the  Greeks,  that  of  the  Greeks, 
by  the  Eomans;  thus  three  metals  are  disposed  of, 
and  there  only  remains  the  iron,  mixed  with  the 
clay.  This  indicates  the  Eoman  empire,  which 
subsists  and  remains,  down  to  the  present  day. 
True,  it  is  not  with  so  extended  a  territory,  or 
wide  a  jurisdiction,  as  in  former  times,  but  still 
incontrovertibly  as  the  same  Eoman  empire,  al- 
though confined  within  very  narrow  limits;  for 
the  emperor  of  Germany,  before  being  crowned 
emperor,  takes  up  the  title,  in  his  father's  life,  of 
king  of  the  Eomans,  and  after  becoming  empe- 
ror, enjoys  the  same  titles  and  dignities  as  his 
ancestors,  he  being  called  Caesar  and  Augustus; 
and,  as  such,  a  pre-eminence  is  conceded  to  him 
by  all  the  kings  and  potentates  of  Europe,  with- 
out dispute  or  opposition. 

If  the  feet  of  iron,  which  represent  the  Eoman 
empire,  remain,  it  involves  a  contradiction,  to 
suppose  that  the  stone  now  fills  the  earth  with 
its  bulk;  for  the  prophet  says,  that  the  stone, 
after  having  reduced  all  the  metals  to  dust,  was 
converted  into  an  immense  mountain,  that  filled 
the  whole  earth:  now,  allowing  that  the  fourth 
metal  still  subsists,  there  can  be  no  stone,  for  they 


170 


REFUTATION  OF  THE  SERMON  OF 


cannot  exist  together;  ^^Sed  sic  est/'  th»nt  the  metal 
does  exist;  ergo,  the  stone  cannot  yet  have  ap- 
peared, and  consequently  the  Messiah  is  not  yet 
come. 

To  establish  the  doctrine  of  the  Messiah's 
having  already  come,  our  author  avails  himself 
of  the  pretended  authority  of  the  Talmudic  rab- 
bins, whom  he  quotes  as  affirming  that  the  final 
D  {Mem)  contained  in  the  word  naiD^  (Jemarbe) 
Isaiah,  chapter  ix.  verso  7,  w4iich  numerically 
represents  six  hundred,  indicates  that  so  many 
years  had  passed  from  the  promulgation  of  that 
prophecy  to  the  death  of  Christ;  and  that  it  had 
always  been  held,  that  when  those  six  hundred 
years  were  expired,  the  time  for  the  Messiah's 
appearance  would  be  close  at  hand.  lie  farther 
adds,  that  the  rabbi  in  question  flourished  two 
hundred  years  after  the  birth  of  Christ.  If  this 
were  the  case,  how  can  it  be  explained,  that, 
knowing  the  predicted  period  had  so  long  elaps- 
ed, he  did  not  renounce  the  Mosaic  law,  and  pro- 
fess the  Christian  doctrine  ? 

To  vanquish  these  imaginary  difficulties,  re- 
presented by  our  author  as  so  formidable,  let  tho 
good  father  be  informed,  that  the  Jews  will  not 
deviate  one  iota  from  the  literal  meaning  of  the 
text,  nor  will  they  ever  admit  of  converting  the 
plain  literal  sense  into  allegory;  but  when  any 
passage  occurs  which  is  obviously  figurative,  they 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR.  171 

will  endeavor  to  resolve  it  into  a  sense  as  nearly 
approaching  the  literal  as  the  text  will  allow. 

Let  him  learn  also,  that  the  Talmud  is  compos- 
ed of  canons,  dogmas,  and  regulations  for  the  ri- 
tual;  and  that  when  in  case  of  a  doubt  arising 
among  the  rabbins  upon  any  point  therein  treat- 
ed, after  having  been  thoroughly  discussed  and 
canvassed  in  their  midrasli,  or  college,  it  has  been 
solved  and  decided  by  a  plurality  of  voices,  con- 
formably  to  tho  opinion  that  appears  to  carry 
with  it  the  greatest  weight :  such  decision  is  pre- 
served and  followed  by  the  Jews,  as  rigidly  as  if 
it  were  the  written  law  itself.     On  the  other 
hand,  as  is  well  known,  the  Talmud  contains  an 
immense  number  of  allegories  in  reference  to 
every  part  of  the  Bible,  which  frequently  give 
rise  to  questions  that  are  agitated  and  investi- 
gated like  the  rest,  but  are  never  absolutely  de- 
termined nor  decided  upon,  and  only  serve  to 
elicit  some  moral  conclusions  for  the  people, 
which,  if  well  selected  and  well  applied  in  ser- 
mons, are  likely  to  produce  useful  eflPects  on  tho 
congregation. 

But  to  come  more  immediately  to  the  point  at 
issue,  i.  e.  the  closed  or  final  Mem  which  occurs  in 
the  middle  of  the  word,  and  which  the  Talmud- 
ists  (if  we  may  believe  the  preacher)  understand 
to  denote  a  number:  I  shall  show,  and  with 
every  appearance  of  probability,  and  in  strict 
conformity  with  the  circumstances  of  the  times, 


m 


172 


REFUTATION  OP  THE  SERMON  OP 


TvmP 


that  it  may  be  accounted  for  by  looking  to  the 
form  of  the  letter  itself. 

God  having  promised  the  pious  and  devout 
King  Ilezekiah  a  solid  and  lasting  peace,  and  a 
perpetual  and  uninterrupted  tranquillity,  not  sa- 
tisfied with  having  signified  this  in  mere  verbal 
language,  placed  in  the  middle  of  the  word  the 
final  MeiHy  which  being  a  close  quadrangle,  serv- 
ed the  purpose  of  a  hieroglyphic,  to  indicate  to 
the  king,  that  as  this  square  is  so  shut  in  on  all 
sides,  that  nothing  can  enter  or  break  it,  in  like 
manner  the  peace  ho  was  to  enjoy  would  not  be 
interrupted  or  broken  in  upon  during  his  whole 
life,  as,  in  fact,  turned  out  to  be  the  case. 

Here  we  perceive  two  allegories  applied  to  this 
Meniy  founded  on  two  suppositions,  both  possible, 
both  plausible,  and  both  adequate.  Let  us  ex- 
amine the  value  and  meaning  of  the  Talmudio 
allegory,  and  how  far  it  extends. 

The  Talmudic  rabbi,  according  to  the  preacher, 
affirms,  that  the  Messiah  ought  to  come  six  hun- 
dred years  after  King  Ahaz,  in  virtue  of  the 
closed  or  final  Mem :  well,  so  be  it ;  but  it  is  re- 
quisite to  examine  the  qualification  of  this  rabbi, 
and  how  he  became  enabled  to  fathom  this  re- 
condite mystery,  whether  by  reflection  or  by  di- 
vine inspiration ;  if  it  were  from  the  latter  of 
these  means,  it  becomes  a  sort  of  prophecy,  and 
as  such  demands  our  implicit  acquiescence;  but 
if  obtained  from  his  own  meditations  and  ideas, 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


173 


it  is  entitled  to  no  greater  influence  or  force  than 
any  other  allegory;  and  being  so,  as,  in  fact,  it 
is,  there  is  no  obligation  to  believe  or  receive  it 
as  if  it  were  prophecy;  on  the  contrary,  the  au- 
thor himself  only  advances  it  as  a  mere  conjec- 
ture, believing  the  event  possible  (at  the  timo 
named),  but  not  as  sure  to  happen.  This  proves 
itself;  for  if  the  nation  had  received  this  predic- 
tion as  prophetical,  they  would  have  acknow- 
ledged Christ  to  be  the  Messiah,  that  is  to  say, 
the  Messiah  promised  in  the  closed  J/ewi,  but 
which  they  certainly  did  not. 

IjV. — It  is  ridiculous  to  object,  as  is  done  at 
the  end  of  section  fifty-three,  that  if  the  Jews 
deny  that  the  2Iem  in  Lemarhe  signifies  the  six 
hundred  years  that  elapsed  between  the  fourth 
year  of  Ahaz  and  the  coming  of  Christ,  they 
would  incur  the  penalty  of  death. 

The  Lord  Archbishop  is  much  mistaken;  for 
the  obligation  on  the  Jews  to  believe  the  rabbins 
extends  no  farther  than  to  the  doctrine  and  the 
ritual  of  the  Law,  as  we  may  perceive  from  chap- 
ter xvii.  verses  8  to  14  of  Deuteronomy.  But 
they  are  not  compelled  to  believe  in  every  rab- 
binical allegory.  I  have  already  remarked,  that 
if  any  rabbi  makes  an  allegorical  statement  or 
exposition  of  any  passage  in  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures, which  the  ]3reacher  imagines  may  be  turn- 
ed to  his  own  advantage,  he  presents  it  in  argu- 
ment to  the  Jews,  as  if  it  were  with  them  an  ar- 


M. 


i 


174 


REFUTATION  OF  THE  SERMON  OF 


tide  of  faith,  and  persuades  himself  that  he  has 
thereby  brought  conviction  home  to  their  minds. 
According  to  this  doctrine,  I,  for  my  disbelief  in 
the  rabbinical  exposition  of  the  Menif  ought  to  be 
regarded  by  my  nation  as  a  heretic  or  schisma- 
tic; but  this  is  far  from  being  the  case;  for,  as  I 
have  so  often  remarked,  allegory  is  no  more  than 
a  human  idea,  and  as  such  not  considered  to  carry 
with  it  any  divine  sanction ;  thus,  the  argument 
drawn  from  the  numerical  signification  of  the 
3167)1  falls  to  the  ground,  and  needs  no  farther 
reply. 

The  author  of  this  refutation,  oppressed  by  age 
and  infirmities,  has  had  no  opportunity  to  see 
the  book  quoted  by  the  reverend  preacher;  but, 
having  attentively  examined  the  passage  alluded 
to  in  the  works  of  Maimonides  himself,  finds  that 
the  archbishop,  with  his  accustomed  candor,  has 
given  a  garbled  extract  therefrom,  omitting  the 
commencement  of  the  discourse,  which  is  es- 
sential to  the  true  understanding  of  the  para- 
graph in  question.  The  author  writes  as  follows  :* 
"With  regard  to  what  you  say  relating  to  the 
period  of  the  Messiah's  coming,  and  what  R.  Sa- 
adya  advances  on  the  subject :  first  you  ought 
to  know  that  the  precise  time  cannot  be  ascer- 
tained by  any  living  being,  as  is  declared  in  Dan- 
iel xii.  9,  *And  he  said.  Go  thy  way,  Daniel,  for 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


175 


*  Vide  Epist.  ad  Orient 


the  words  are  closed  up  and  sealed  till  the  end 
of  time.' 

"  However,  ideas  and  opinions  have  been  en- 
tertained by  some  learned  men,  who  think  they 
have  ascertained  it,  and  the  prophet  has  touched 
on  that  point,  saying,  (Daniel  xii.  4,)  <  Though 
you  extend  and  increase  knowledge  greatly,'  &c., 
meaning,  that  although  opinions  would  multiply 
and  various  judgments  be  formed  concerning  the 
Messiah's  coming,  still  no  human  prediction  of 
that  event  would  be  accomplished;  the  prophet 
goes  on  to  admonish  us,  not  on  that  account  to 
doubt  of  the  truth  of  God's  promise,  and  says, 
*  Be  not  troubled  if  this  be  not  accomplished  at 
the  time  anticipated;  but  in  proportion  as  his 
coming  may  be  protracted,  so  let  your  hopes  be 
increased;'  as  also  says  Ilabakkuk,  chapter  ii. 
verse  3,  'And  though  it  tarries,  wait  for  it,  be- 
cause it  will  surely  come.' 

"  It  deserves  notice,  that  the  period  even  of 
the  Egyptian  captivity,  although  to  this  God  af- 
fixed a  precise  term  (for  we  read  in  Genesis,  chap- 
ter XV.  verse  13,  'And  they  shall  serve  them,  and 
be  afliicted  by  them  four  hundred  years,')  is  not 
exactly  understood,  being  difficult  to  ascertain, 
some  supposing  that  these  four  hundred  years 
should  be  reckoned  from  the  patriarch  Jacob's 
going  down  into  Egypt;  others,  from  the  time 
the  captivity  commenced,  about  seventy  years 
later;  others  again  were  of  opinion,  that  the  pe- 


176 


REFUTATION  OF  THE  SERMON  OF 


riod  was  to  bo  reckoned  from  the  time  of  the  pa- 
triarch Abraham's  receiving  the  revelation,  and 
accordingly  when  the  four  hundred  years  of  their 
reckoning  were  completed,  certain  Israelites  left 
Egypt  thirty  years  before  the  mission  of  Moses, 
thinking  that  the  time  of  redemption  had  arriv- 
ed; and  they  were  slain  by  the  Egyptians,  who 
increased  the  yoke  of  the  captivity:  this  at  least 
we  are  taught  by  our  sages;  and  David  alludes 
to  these  men  in  Psalm  Ixxviii.  verse  9,  where  ho 
Bays, '  The  children  of  Ephraim,  armed  and  car- 
rying bows,  turned  their  back  in  the  day  of  bat- 
tle!' 

"  The  true  reckoning  of  the  four  hundred  years 
was  from  the  birth  of  Isaac,  who  was  Abraham's 
successor,  as  we  read  in  Genesis,  chapter  xxi.  ver. 
12,  *  For  in  Isaac  shall  thy  generation  be  called.' 
In  Genesis,  chapter  xv.  verse  13,  God  said,  <Your 
posterity  shall  bo  wanderers  in  a  land  not  their 
own,  and  shall  servo  and  be  afflicted  by  them 
four  hundred  years.'  The  literal  sense  of  this 
verse  is,  that  during  part  of  the  captivity,  the 
Egyptians  would  rule  over  them,  humiliate,  and 
afflict  them,  as  there  were  to  be,  in  all,  four  hun- 
dred years  of  exile,  but  not  of  subjection.  This 
truth  remained  unknown,  until  it  was  found,  after 
the  coming  of  Moses,  that  the  four  hundred  years 
•were  accomplished  between  the  birth  of  Isaac  and 
the  departure  from  Egypt.  We  consequently  may 
infer;  that  if  the  term  of  the  Egyptian  captivity, 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR.  177 

^hich  had  a  fixed  and  limited  period,  was  not 
rightly  understood,  how  much  less  likely  so  to 
be  is  our  present  protracted  captivity,  which, 
from  its  extended  duration,   alarmed   the  pro- 
phets themselves,  and  prompted  one  of  them  to 
exclaim,  Psalm  Ixxxiv.  verso  5,  Wvilt  thou  be 
angry  with  us  forever?     Wilt  thou  extend  thine 
anger  to  all  generations?'     And  Isaiah,  treating 
on  the  procrastination  of  the   captivity,  says, 
chapter  xxiv.  verse  22,  *And  they  shall  be  ga- 
thered together  as  prisoners  are  gathered  in  the 
dungeon,  and  shall  be  shut  up  in  the  prison,  and 
after  many  days  shall  be  visited.'" 

From  the  above  quotation,  we  perceive  that 
the  very  learned  author  was  of  opinion,  that  no 
man  can  ever  attain  to  a  knowledge  of  the  pre- 
cise time  of  the  Messiah's  coming:  in  proof  of 
which,  he  quotes  the  verse  from  Daniel,  "That 
the  prophecies  will  remain  closed  and  sealed  until 
the  last  hour;"  and  from  this  fact,  he  brings  for- 
ward the  example  of  the  Egyptian  captivfty,  to 
which,  although  God  was  pleased  to  affix  a  pre- 
cise limit  of  four  hundred  years,  there  existed 
various  suppositions  and  opinions  concerning  its 
duration,  by  reason  of  the  uncertainty  of  the  ex- 
act  date  from  which  the  computation  was  to  com- 
mence. 

This  eminent  sage,  after  expressing  himself  so 
explicitly  on  this  article,  ventures  to  prescribe  a 
period  for  the  advent  of  the  Messiah :  knowing 


I J 


i\ 


178 


REFUTATION  OP  THE  SERMON  OP 


this  fact,  is  there  any  person  in  the  world  (ex- 
cept  the  archbishop)  who  can  fail  to  believe  that 
this  opinion  is  advanced,  not  as  infallible,  but 
merely  as  possible?  If  the  preacher  had  been 
candid  enough  to  produce  the  whole  of  the  pas- 
sage (as  I  have  done),  there  would  have  been  no 
foundation  left  for  his  arguments;  but  it  was  cer- 
tain, that  he  had  not  to  fear  contradiction  from 
those  he  was  addressing,  they  being  men  con- 
demned to  the  flames,  suffering  under  penance, 
and  wearing  the  badge  of  the  Inquisition. 

LYI. — In  this  number,  our  author  adduces  a 
sentence  from  one  of  the  sages  of  the  Talmud, 
who  says  that  the  world  is  to  exist  only  six  thou- 
sand years,  ^^Machini  Mundi  hiijus  annorum  Scxies 
Milla,et  nonplurumpersistere  debet j''  and  then  adds, 
"the  same  say  your  rabbins,  from  ancient  tradi- 
tion since  the  time  of  Elijah's  disciples." 

The  preacher  here  asserts  two  things: — First, 
that  the  rabbins  affirm  this  from  ancient  tradition. 
Secondly,  that  this  same  tradition  takes  its  ori- 
gin from  the  disciples  of  Elijah,  understanding 
this  Elijah  to  be  the  prophet  known  by  that 
name,  who  was  taken  up  alive  to  heaven.  But  to 
prove  how  little  the  reverend  father  is  versed  in 
Hebrew  literature,  and  how  imperfect  his  ac- 
quaintance is  with  the  Talmud,  I  will  show  that 
this  is  only  the  unsupported  opinion  of  one  of 
the  sages,  and  not  ancient  tradition  received  from 
the  time  of  Elijah's  disciples;  and  in  the  course 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


179 


of  the  discussion  it  will  appear  who  this  Elijah 
actually  was. 

First,  it  is  requisite  to  keep  in  mind,  that  in 
the  Talmud,  when  a  sage  advances  an  opinion, 
whether  originating  in  his  own  mind,  or  based 
on  some  passage  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  if  it  does 
not  appertain  to  any  part  of  the  law,  either  ritual 
or  doctrinal,  it  is  not  discussed  nor  decided,  so 
that  although  sometimes  the  opinions  of  others 
are  produced  against  it,  the  matter  goes  no  far- 
ther. 

The  great  Eabbi  Moses  of  Egypt,  in  the  last 
chapter  of  his  commentary  on  Kings,  treating  on 
the  different  opinions  in  the  Talmud,  as  to  what 
is  to  happen  before  and  after  the  coming  of  the 
Messiah,  says,  that  these  prophecies  are  very  ob- 
scure and  difficult  to  comprehend,  that  the  pro- 
phets themselves  did  not  understand  them,  that 
the  sages  did  not  receive  any  tradition  concern- 
ing them,  and  that  they  only  discoursed  about 
them  from  what  they  collected  from  the  text 
itself.  Thus  we  find  that  this  learned  man,  so 
eminent  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Talmud,  asserts 
that  the  sages  never  received  any  tradition  re- 
garding these  sayings  and  opinions,  and  that 
they  formed  their  notions  on  them  from  conjec- 
ture; and  this  he  follows  up,  by  saying,  that  much 
time  ought  not  to  be  bestowed  on  this  study, 
since  mere  human  conjectures  often  prove  erro- 
neous and  rarely  true ! 


I 


180 


BEFUTATION  OF  THE  SERMON  OF 


Henco  we  perceive,  that  this  opinion  has  never 
been  received,  either  as  an  article  of  faith  or  tra- 
dition; and  if  the  term  of  six  thousand  years  had 
passed,  we  should  be  entitled  to  say,  that  it  had 
not  been  justified  b}-  the  event,  or  that  it  indi- 
cated, under  a  form  of  speech,  something  that 
we  could  not  comprehend:  and  to  show  that  it  is 
not  sanctioned  by  the  Talmud,  we  find  in  the 
treatise  Sanhedrin^  chapter  Hilek  (which  he  so 
frequently  quotes),  that  a  ditlerent  opinion  was 
entertained  by  another  famous  rabbi,  who  says 
that  the  reign  of  the  Messiah  in  himself  and  in 
Lis  descendants,  is  to  last  seven  thousand  years. 
Our  author  farther  affirms,  that  the  doctrine 
of  the  six  thousand  years  was  an  old  tradition 
received  by  the  Ilabbins  from  the  disciples  of  Eli- 
jah, and  to  give  force  to  the  argument,  he  leads 
us  to  understand  that  it  was  the  prophet  Elijah. 
Ilowever,  I  beg  to  inform  the  Archbishop,  that 
this  same  Elijah  was  only  a  rabbi,  in  whose  house 
an  academy  was  held;  and  when  anything  is  re- 
corded in  his  name,  it  is  to  be  understood  merely 
as  having  been  discussed  therein:  and  the  same 
remark  applies  to  Eabbi  Ishmael,  in  whose  house 
another  academy  was  held,  of  which  the  proceed- 
ings are  given  in  the  same  form;  so  this  Elijah 
was  just  as  much  the  prophet  Elijah,  as  Eabbi 
Ishmael  the  son  of  the  patriarch  Abraham;  con* 
sequently  the  tradition  was  not  received  from  the 
disciples  of  Elijah,  as  the  learned  preacher  haa 
affirmed. 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


181 


I  cannot  pass  unnoticed  the  manner  in  which 
he  has  misrepresented  the  passage  to  which  he 
refers;  for  in  order  to  shape  it  to  his  taste,  and 
to  prevent  the  possibility  of  contradiction,  he  does 
not  produce  the  text  itself,  but  says  the  sages  af- 
firm that  the  world  will  exist  only  six  thousand 
years, — the  first  two  thousand  under  the  Law 
of  Nature,  without  the  written  law;  the  second 
two  thousand,  under  the  Law  of  Moses;  and  the 
last  two  thousand,  under  the  Law  of  the  Messiah. 
But  in  fact,  the  sage  expresses  himself  in  the 
following  manner:— "It  was  declared  in  the  acad- 
emy, or  rather  Elijah's  house,  that  the  world  is 
to  subsist  six  thousand  years,  and  then  for  one 
thousand  it  is  to  remain  waste;  two  thousand 
without  any  jurisdiction  whatever;  two  thousand 
with  the  Law  of  Moses;  and  the  last  two  thou- 
sand during  the  time  of  the  Messiah." 

We  see  then  how  the  preacher  perverts  this 
opinion,  and  makes  an  addition,  of  his  own  in- 
vention, to  the  words  of  the  sage,  who  merely 
says,  that  the  last  two  thousand  years  will  be 
those  when  the  Messiah  may  or  ought  to  come 
(that  is  to  say,  during  any  part  of  them,  either 
at  their  beginning  or  end),  but  the  preacher 
makes  him  declare  that  the  last  two  thousand 
years  are  to  be  under  the  Law  of  the  Messiah,  in- 
dicative that  the  Law  of  Moses  was  then  to  cease, 
and  that  of  Christ  to  be  established;  whereas  the 
learned  Elijah  made  no  mention  whatever  of  the 


182 


EErUTATION  OP  THE  SERMON  OV 


law  of  the  Messiah,  but  only  of  the  time  of  the 
Messiah;  his  object  being,  by  interpolating  and 
corrupting  the  text,  to  represent  the  rabbins  of 
the  Talmud  as  believing  in  Christ.  Men  who 
argue  in  this  manner  expose  themselves  not  only 
to  the  derision  and  scoff  of  the  Jews,  but  also  to 
the  contempt  of  all  well-informed  Christians. 

LVII. — The  same  reply  may  be  made  to  his 
inference,  drawn  from  the  doctrine  of  the  eighty- 
five  jubilees,  viz;  that  it  is  not  received  tradition, 
but  merely  individual  opinion,  and  as  such  does 
not  compel  our  belief  Ue  adds  that  we  ought  to 
take  counsel  of  a  certain  Eabbi  Samuel,  who,  con- 
vinced by  a  similar  train  of  reasoning,  renounced 
our  faith,  and  worshipped  Christ;  this  same  Eab- 
bi  Samuel  having  stated,  that  after  turning  over 
in  his  mind  all  that  the  prophets  had  said,  he 
clearly  understood  that  Christ  was  the  son  of 
God  sent  into  the  world  for  our  redemption.  I  be- 
lieve what  he  states,  with  regard  to  turning  over 
the  prophets;  but  I  can  assert,  that  I  have  studied 
them,  and  made  them  my  principal  occupation, 
during  several  years,  but  never  found  what  this 
neophyte  discovered;  and  I  am  confident  that  no 
one  will  make  such  a  discovery,  who  carefully 
studies  the  prophecies,  and  not  merely  skims 
them  over.  Indeed  the  numerous  proofs  alleged 
by  the  archbishop  go  no  farther,  than  to  show 
tho  weakness  of  his  arguments,  and  the  slight 
foundation  on  which  he  builds  his  opinions. 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OP  CRANGANOR. 


183 


Ho  says  that  Rabbi  Anima  Voluntas,  or  Eabbi 
Moses  of  Egypt,  for  they  are  one  and  the  same, 
also  acknowledges  this  truth,  as  may  be  seen  in 
Sonhedrin,  Gazit,  in  the  division  Helek;  for  on 
the  Jews  inquiring  of  him  the  time  of  the  Mes- 
siah's coming,  this  rabbi  contemplating  the  pro- 
crastination of  his  and  our  hopes,  in  regard  to  the 
future  advent  of  the  Messiah  answered  them  with 
this  reproof,  "  Vanum  est  atque  iriane  a  Judceis  Mes- 
siam  ejcpectari,  sed  sola  redemptio  consistit  inpceni- 
tentid." 

I  do  not  know  who  the  Anima  Voluntas,  or 
Eabbi  Moses  the  Egyptian,  can  be,  who  gave 
this  opinion.  Here  is  evidently  an  anachronism 
of  seven  or  eight  hundred  years;  for  the  Talmud 
was  completed  twelve  or  thirteen  centuries 
back,  whereas  the  only  Eabbi  Moses  of  Egypt  I 
know,  flourished  but  about  six  centuries  ago.— 
What  we  do  find  in  the  chapter  alluded  to, Is  an 
expression  of  a  very  learned  man,  named  Eab, 
who  treating  on  the  advent  of  the  Messiah,  says: 
"Already  all  the  appointed  periods  of  time  are 
passed,  and  the  event  (namely  the  advent  of  the 
Messiah)  now  only  depends  on  penitence  and 
pious  works." 

He  hereby  intimates,  that  the  present  captivi- 
ty has  no  prescribed  term,  as  was  the  case  with 
those  of  Egypt  and  Babylon  (one  of  four  hundred 
years,  the  other,  of  seventy),  and  that  the  periods 


184 


REFUTATION  OP  THE   SERMON  OP 


supposed  to  have  been  set  by  Daniel,  or  others, 
having  passed  away,  and  the  Messiah  not  yet 
come,  the  Jews  ought  now  to  undeceive  them- 
selves, and  learn  that  the  coming  of  the  Messiah 
rests  only  on  penitence  and  good  works,  and  does 
not  depend  on  any  fixed  epoch.  It  seems  to  me 
impossible  to  collect  from  these  words  of  the  sage, 
that  he  understood  that  the  Messiah  had  already 
come. 

LVIIl. — LXIII. — In  these  sections,  our  au- 
thor gives  an  elaborate  history  of  various  pseudo- 
Messiahs,  that  have  appeared  in  the  nation  du- 
ring a  period  of  more  than  fifteen  hundred  years. 
To  all  this  it  may  be  answered,  that  although  it 
be  true  the  people  ran  to  receive  some  of  them, 
flattering  themselves  with  the  belief  that  each 
might  be  the  true  and  expected  Messiah,  so  soon 
as  they  saw  that  the  prophecies  which  regard 
the  true  Messiah  were  not  literally  fulfilled  in 
them,  they  rejected  and  abandoned  them,  look- 
ing upon  them  in  the  light  in  which  they  are  still 
held  by  the  nation,  as  mere  impostors. 

Is  it  any  wonder  that  an  abject  and  oppressed 
people  should  seize  every  opportunity  to  effect 
their  deliverance,  being  led  away  by  that  confi- 
dence which  they  always  had,  and  still  have,  in 
God,  and  by  the  hope  they  place  in  His  divine 
and  holy  word,  which  cannot  fail? 

Did  there  not  exist,  and  do_there  not  exist  at 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


185 


the  present  day  in  Portugal,  persons  who  expect 
the  return  of  King  Sebastian;*  and  was  there 
not,  in  past  ages,  one  who  pretended  to  be  the 
same,  and  were  not  books  written  to  prove  him 
such?  If,  then,  such  things  have  occurred  in  a 
free  nation,  merely  from  the  anxious  wish  of  be- 
holding again  a  beloved  monarch,  can  it  be  sur- 
prising that  an  oppressed  people,  actuated  b}^  the 
fond  hope  of  seeing  a  king  promised  to  them  by 
the  Almighty,  should  fall  into  a  similar  error? 

LXiy. — In  this  section,  our  author  questions 
the  Jews  seriously,  if  they  expect  the  Messiah  to 
come  with  those  signs  that  the  Scriptures  and 
the  prophets  describe,  or  with  others,  of  which 
no  mention  is  made  ? 

I  reply  to  the  archbishop,  that  the  Messiah  we 
expect  is  the  same  that  is  described  in  the  Holy 
Scriptures;  and  if  he  wishes  to  know  for  what 
purpose  he  is  to  come,  and  what  he  will  effect, 
let  him  read  the  following  prophecies: 

Deuteronomy  xxx.  l-IO.  "And  it  shall  come 
to  pass,  when  all  these  things  are  come  upon 
thee,  the  blessing  and  the  curse,  which  I  have 
set  before  thee,  and  thou  shalt  call  them  to  mind 


*King  Don  Sebastian  was  supposed,  in  former  ages,  to 
have  mysteriously  disappeared  from  Portugal,  and  num- 
bers of  bis  subjects  verily  believed  be  would  return  to  them 
at  some  future  period;  and  there  used  to  be,  in  Lisbon,  one 
particular  road  by  which  many  imagined  he  would  come* 


I 


186 


REFUTATION  OF  THE   SERMON  OF 


among  all  the  nations  whither  the  Lord  thy  God 
hath  driven  thee,  and  shall  return  unto  the  Lord 
thy  God,  and  shalt  obey  his  voice  according  to 
all  that  I  command  thee  this  day,  thou  and  thy 
children,  with  all  thine  heart,  and  all  thy  soul: 
that  then  the  Lord  thy  God  will  turn  thy  cap- 
tivity, and  have  compassion  upon  thee,  and  will 
return  and  gather  thee  from  all  the  nations,  whi- 
ther the  Lord  thy  God  hath  scattered  thee.  If 
any  of  thine  bo  driven  out  into  the  uttermost 
parts  of  heaven,  from  there  will  the  Lord  thy 
God  gather  thee,  and  from  there  will  he  fetch 
thee;  and  the  Lord  thy  God  will  bring  thee  into 
the  land  which  thy  fathers  possessed,  and  thou 
shalt  possess  it;  and  he  will  do  thee  good,  and 
multiply  thee  above  th}-  fathers;  and  the  Lord 
thy  God  will  circumcise  thine  heart,  and  the 
heart  of  thy  seed,  to  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with 
all  thine  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  that  thou 
mayest  live;  and  the  Lord  thy  God  will  put  all 
these  curses  upon  thine  enemies,  and  on  them 
that  hate  thee,  who  have  persecuted  thee;  and 
thou  shalt  return  and  obey  the  voice  of  the  Lord, 
and  do  all  his  commandments,  which  I  command 
thee  this  day;  and  the  Lord  thy  God  will  make 
thee  plenteous  in  every  work  of  thine  hand,  in 
the  fruit  of  thy  body,  and  in  the  fruit  of  thy  cat- 
tle, and  in  the  fruit  of  thy  land  for  good;  for  tho 
Lord  will  again  rejoice  over  thee  for  good,  as  he 
rejoiced  over  thy  fathers ;  if  thou  wilt  hearken 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


187 


unto  the  voice  of  the  Lord  thy  God,  to  keep  his 
commandments,  and  his  statutes,  which  are  writ- 
ten in  the  book  of  the  law,  and  if  thou  turn  unto 
the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thine  heart  and  with 
all  thy  soul." 

Trom  these  verses  it  must  be  inferred,  that 
even  after  the  advent  of  the  Messiah,  the  law  of 
Moses  will  be  observed  by  His  people. 

Isaiah,  chapter  ii.  verses  2-4.  "And  it  shall 
come  to  pass  in  the  last  days,  that  the  mountain 
of  the  Lord's  house  shall  be  established  on  the 
top  of  the  mountains,  and  shall  be  exalted  above 
the  hills,  and  all  nations  shall  flow  unto  it.  And 
many  people  shall  go  and  say.  Come  ye,  and  let 
us  go  up  to  the  mountain  of  the  Lord,  to  the 
house  of  the  God  of  Jacob;  and  he  will  teach  us 
of  his  ways,  and  we  will  walk  in  his  paths;  for 
out  of  Zion  shall  go  forth  the  law,  and  the  word 
of  the  Lord  from  Jerusalem.  And  he  shall  judge 
among  the  nations,  and  shall  rebuke  many  peo 
pie,  and  they  shall  beat  their  swords  into  plough- 
shares, and  their  spears  into  pruning-hooks;  na- 
tion shall  not  lift  up  sword  against  nation,  nei- 
ther shall  they  learn  war  any  more." 

Ibid  ,  chapter  xi.  verses  10-16.  "And  in  that 
day  there  shall  be  a  root  of  Jesse,  which  shall 
stand  for  an  ensign  of  the  people,  to  it  shall  the 
gentiles  seek,  and  his  rest  shall  be  glorious.  And 
it  shall  come  to  pass  in  that  day,  that  the  Lord 
shall  set  his  hand  airain  the  second  time  to  re- 


188 


REPUTATION  OP  THE  SERMON  OF 


cover  the  remnant  of  his  people,  which  shall  bo 
left  from  Assyria,  and  from  Egypt,  and  from  Path- 
ros,  and  from  Cush,  and  from  Elam,  and  from 
Shinar,  and  from  Ilaniatli,  and  from  the  islands 
of  the  sea.     And  he  shall  set  up  an  ensign  for  the 
nations,  and  shall  assemble  the  outcasts  of  Israel, 
and  gather  together  the  dispersed  of  Judah  from  the 
four  corners  of  the  earth.     The  envy  also  of  Eph- 
raim  shall  depart,  and  the  adversaries  of  Judah 
shall  be  cut  off:  Ephraim  shall  not  envy  Judah, 
and  Judah  shall  not  vex  Ephraim.  But  they  shall 
fly  upon  the  shoulders  of  the  Philistines  towards 
the  West;  they  shall  spoil  them  of  the  East  to- 
gether; they  shall  lay  their  hand  upon  Edom 
and  Moab,  and  the  children  of  Ammon  shall  obey 
them.     And  the  Lord  shall  utterU'-  destroy  the 
tongue  of  the  Egyptian  sea,  and  shall  wave  his 
hand  over  the  river,  and  with  his  mighty  winds 
shall  smite  it  into  seven  streams,  and  make  men 
go  over  dry-shod !  And  there  shall  be  a  highway 
for  the  remnant  of  his  people,  which  shall  be  left 
from  Assyria,  like  as  it  was  to  Israel  in  the  day 
that  he  came  up  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt." 

Ibid.,  lii.  1.  "Awake,  awake:  put  on  thy 
strength,  O  Zion;  put  on  thy  beautiful  garments, 
O  Jerusalem,  the  holy  city!  for  henceforth  there 
shall  no  more  come  into  thee  the  UDcircumcised 
and  the  unclean." 

Ibid.,  chapter  Ixv.  verses  16,  19,  and  20.  "Ho 
who  blcsseth  himself  on  the  earth  shall  bless  him- 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


189 


self  iii  the  God  of  Truth,  and  he  that  sweareth 
on  the  earth  shall  swear  by  the  God  of  Truth  5 
because  the  former  troubles  are  forgotten,  and 
because  they  are  hid  from  mine  eyes !  .  .  .  , 
I  will  rejoice  in  Jerusalem,  and  joy  in  my  people, 
and  the  voice  of  weeping  shall  no  more  be  heard 
in  her,  nor  the  voice  of  crying.  There  shall  bo 
no  more  thence  an  infant  of  days,  nor  an  old 
man  that  hath  not  filled  his  days;  for  the  child 
shall  die  a  hundred  years  old;  but  the  sinner  be- 
ing a  hundred  years  old  shall  be  accureed."  And 
so  throughout  tlie  chapter. 

Ibid.,  chapter  Ixvi.  18, 19,  and  20,  "For  I  know 
their  works  and  their  thoughts;  it  shall  come  that 
I  will  gather  all  nations  and  tongues,  and  they 
shall  see  my  glory.  And  I  will  set  among  them 
a  sign,  and  I  will  send  those  that  escape  of  them 
unto  the  nations  Tarshish,  Pul,  and  Lud,  that 
draw  the  bow,  to  Tubal  and  Javan,  to  the  isles 
afar  off,  that  have  not  heard  my  fame,  neither 
have  seen  my  glory,  and  they  shall  declare  my 
glory  among  the  gentiles.  And  they  shall  bring 
all  your  brethren  for  an  offering  unto  the  Lord 
out  of  all  nations,  upon  horses  and  in  chariots, 
and  in  litters,  and  upon  mules,  and  upon  swift 
beasts,  to  my  holy  mountain,  Jerusalem,  saith 
the  Lord,  as  the  children  of  Israel  bring  an  offer- 
ing in  a  clean  vessel  into  the  house  of  the  Lord." 

Jeremiah,  chapter  iii.  verses  17  and  18.     "At 
that  time  they  shall  call  Jerusalem  the  throne  of 
R 


M 


190 


REFtJTATION  OF  THE  SERMON  OF 


the  Lord,  and  all  the  nations  shall  be  gathered 
into  it  to  the  name  of  the  Lord  to  Jerusalem, 
neither  shall  they  walk  any  more  after  the  ima- 
gination of  their  evil  hearts.  In  those  days  the 
house  of  Judah  shall  walk  with  the  house  of  Is- 
rael, and  they  shall  come  together  out  of  the 
land  of  the  north,  to  the  land  which  I  have  given 
for  an  inheritance  to  your  fathers." 

Ibid.,  chapter  xxxi.  verse  34.  "And  they  shall 
no  more  teach  every  man  his  neighbor  and  every 
man  his  brother,  saying,  Know  the  Lord ;  for 
they  shall  all  know  me,  from  the  least  of  them 
even  unto  the  greatest  of  them,  saith  the  Lord ; 
for  I  will  forgive  their  iniquity,  and  I  will  re- 
member their  sin  no  more." 

Ezekiel,  chap,  xxxvi.  verses  25  and  26.  "Then 
I  will  sprinkle  clean  water  upon  you,  and  ye 
shall  be  clean,  from  all  youf  filthiness,  and  from 
all  your  idols  will  I  cleanse  you.  A  new  heart 
also  will  I  give  you,  and  a  new  spirit  will  I  put 
within  you,  and  I  will  take  away  the  stony  heart 
out  of  your  flesh,  and  I  will  give  you  a  heart  of 
flesh." 

Ibid.,  chapter  xxxvii.  verses  24-28.  "  And  Da- 
vid my  servant  shall  be  king  over  them;  and 
they  shall  have  one  shepherd;  they  shall  also 
■walk  in  my  judgments,  and  observe  my  statutes 
and  do  them.  And  they  shall  dwell  in  the  land 
that  I  have  given  unto  Jacob  my  servant,  where- 
in your  fathers  have  dwelt,  and  they  shall  dwell 


¥ 


i 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


191 


therein,  even  they  and  their  children,  and  their 
children's  children  for  ever,  and  my  servant  Da- 
vid shall  be  their  prince  forever.  Moreover  I 
will  make  a  covenant  of  peace  with  them;  it 
shall  be  an  everlasting  covenant  with  them,  and 
I  will  place  them  and  multiply  them,  and  will 
set  my  sanctuary  in  the  midst  of  them  forever- 
more.  My  tabernacle  also  shall  be  with  them : 
yea,  I  will  be  their  God,  and  they  shall  be  my 
people.  And  the  heathen  shall  know  that  I  the 
Lord  do  sanctify  Israel,  when  ray  sanctuary  shall 
be  in  the  midst  of  them  forevermore." 

Ibid.,  chapter  xxxix.  verses  27-29.  "When  I 
have  brought  them  again  from  the  people,  and 
gathered  them  out  of  their  enemies'  lands,  and 
am  sanctified  in  them  in  the  sight  of  many  na- 
tions; then  shall  they  know  that  I  am  the  Lord 
their  God,  who  caused  them  to  be  led  into  cap- 
tivity among  the  heathen,  but  I  have  gathered 
them  into  their  own,  and  have  left  none  of  them 
any  more  there.  JS either  will  I  hide  my  face 
any  more  from  them;  for  I  have  poured  out  my 
Spirit  upon  the  house  of  Israel,  saith  the  Lord 
God." 

Joel,  chapter  ii.  verses  27-29.  "And  ye  shall 
know  that  I  am  in  the  midst  of  Israel,  and  that 
I  am  the  Lord  your  God,  and  none  else,  and  my 
people  shall  never  be  ashamed.  And  it  shall 
come  to  pass  afterwards,  that  I  will  pour  out  my 
spirit  upon  all  flesh,  and  your  sons  and  your 


i\ 


1 


X 


I 


192 


REFUTATION  OF  THE  SER3I0N   OF 


daughters  shall  prophesy,  your  old  men  shall 
dream  dreams,  and  your  young  men  shall  seo 
visions.  And  also  upon  all  the  sers'ants  and  the 
handmaids  in  those  days  will  I  pour  out  my  spi- 
rit." 

Ibid.,  chapter  iri.  verses  16^  17.  "And  the  Lord 
also  shall  roar  out  of  Zion,  and  utter  his  voice 
from  Jerusalem,  and  the  heavens  and  the  earth 
Bhall  shake;  but  the  Lord  will  be  the  hope  of 
his  people,  and  the  strength  of  the  children  of 
Israel.  So  shall  ye  know  that  I  am  the  Lord 
your  God,  dwelling  in  Zion,  my  holy  mountain  : 
then  shall  Jerusalem  be  holy,  and  there  shall  no 
strangers  pass  through  her  any  more." 

Zechariah,  chapter  viii.  verse  23.  "Thus  saith 
the  Lord  of  Hosts,  In  those  days  it  shall  come  to 
pass,  that  ten  men  shall  take  hold,  out  of  all  lan- 
guages of  the  nations,  even  shall  take  hold  of  the 
Bkirt  of  him  that  is  a  Jew,  saying,  Wo  will  go 
with  you;  for  wo  have  heard  that  God  is  with 

you." 

Ibid.,  chapter  xiv.  verse  16.  "And  it  shall 
come  to  pass,  that  every  one  that  is  left  of  all  the 
nations  which  came  up  against  Jerusalem,  shall 
even  go  up  from  year  to  year  to  worship  the 
King,  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  and  to  keep  the  feast  of 
tabernacles." 

Daniel,  chap.  ii.  ver.  44:  "And  in  the  days  of 
these  kings  shall  the  God  of  heaven  set  up  a  king- 
dom,  which  shall  never  be  destroyed,  and  the 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


193 


kingdom  shall  not  be  left  to  other  people;  but  it 
shall  break  in  pieces,  and  consume  all  these  king- 
doms, and  it  shall  stand  forever." 

« 

Such  is  the  indelible  character  of  the  Messiah 
and  the  touchstone  by  which  the  truth  of  his  mis- 
sion must  be  tested;  for  if  in  his  time  all  these 
prophecies  are  accomplished    (and  an  infinite 
number  of  others  which  I  omit),  we  shall  ac- 
knowledge him  as  such;  but  if  not,  we  shall  re- 
gard him  as  spurious,  and  we  shall  not  judge 
figuratively,  but  literally;  for  if  we  take  the  li- 
berty to  turn  the  prophecies,  which  stand  in  no 
need  of  a  figurative  construction,  into  allegories, 
how  would  it  be  possible  to  distinguish  the  false 
from  the  true  Messiah? 

Whoever  might  be  disposed  to  apply  them^to 
himself  by  perverting  the  text,  and  allegorizing 
it  to  suit  his  purpose,  might  set  himself  up  for 
the  Messiah,  whereas  the  realization  of  the  un- 
dermentioned chain  of  events,  forms  an  unerring 
criterion  by  which  the  true  Messiah  can  be  ascer- 
tained: he  must  be  known  and  made  manifest  in 
the  eyes  of  all  the  nations  of  the  earth;  in  his 
time  war  is  to  cease  among  the  nations;  all  will 

follow  one  only  law;  and  adore  one  only  God. 

Now,  as  we  have  not  to  this  day  seen  any  of  these 
prophecies  accomplished,  we  must  conclude  that 
the  Messiah  has  not  yet  come. 

I^^l^^- — In  this  section  our  author  quotes  the 
eighth  chapter,  fourteenth  verse  of  Isaiah,  alle^o- 


194 


REFUTATION  OF  THE  SERMON  OF 


rizing  it  as  usual.  It  has  already  been  proved, 
that  this  chapter,  the  preceding  and  subsequent 
ones,  treat  of  King  Ilezekiah;  and  no  more  need 
be  added  on  this  point. 

LXV.— LXIX.— In  this  he  pretends  to  prove, 
that  verses  3,  4,  and  5  of  chapter  iii.  of  Ilosea, 
treat  of  Christ,  and  then  proceeds  to  say,  tho 
prophet  Hosea,  (chap,  iii.,)  gave  us  another 
feign  from  which  the  Messiah  may  be  recognised; 
^'Dies  multos  eipectahis  me  et  ego  expectabo  vos." — 
*<Whcn  the  Messiah  is  come,"  says  the  prophet, 
*Uhe  Jews  will  be  still  waiting  for  him,  and  the 
Messiah  will  wait  for  the  Jews;  and  because  the 
Jews  will  not  receive  him,  they  will  continue 
•without  a  king,  without  a  prince,  without  sacri- 
fice, and  without  an  altar."  ^' Sedehxmt  filii  Israel 
sine  regej  sine  principe^  sine  sacrificiOj  et  sine  altari," 
After  the  Jews  have  remained  in  this  state,  they 
•will  acknowledge  the  Messiah  whom  they  would 
not  receive  when  he  did  come,  ^^et  post  hcec  rever^ 
ientur  filii  Israel  ad  Dominum  Deum  suum  et  ad 
David  reguin  suum.'* 

For  ihe  better  comprehending  of  this  prophe- 
cy, and  to  convince  the  world  how  little  reason 
the  reverend  preacher  evinces  in  his  remarks 
upon  it,  it  will  be  requisite  to  give  the  quotation 
from  beginning  to  end. 

Hosoa,  iii.  1-5. — "iY  dixit  Bominus  ad  me^  Ad- 
Tiuc  vade,  dilige  mulierem  dilectam  socii  et  adulteram, 
secundum  dilectionem  Domini  adfilios  Israel j  et  ipsi 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


195 


respicientes  ad  Deos  alienos  et  diligentes  dolia  iivar- 
um;  et  mercatus  sum  earn  milii,  in  quindecim  argen* 
teis  et  chomer  hordeorum  et  letech  hordeorumj  et  dixi 
ad  eamy  Dies  multos  sedehis  mild;  ne  fornicaberiSj  et 
ne  sis  viroj  et  etiam  ego  ad  te.  Quia  dies  multos 
manehunt  filii  Israel^  non  rex  et  non  princepSy  et  non 
sacrificiumj  et  non  statuay  et  non  ephod  et  teraphim. 
Fostea  revertentur  filii  Israel  et  quxrent  Dominum 
Deum  suum,  et  David  regem  suum,  et  pavebunt  ad 
Dominium  et  ad  bonum  ejus  in  novissimo  dierum" 

*'  Then  said  the  Lord  unto  me.  Go,  yet  love  a 
woman  (beloved  of  her  friend,  yet,  an  adulteress), 
according  to  the  love  of  the  Lord  towards  the 
children  of  Israel,  who  look  to  other  gods,  and 
love  flagons  of  wine.  So  I  bought  her  to  me,  for 
fifteen  pieces  of  silver,  and  for  an  homer  of  barley, 
and  a  half  homer  of  barley.  And  I  said  unto  her, 
Thou  shalt  abide  for  me  many  days,  thou  shalt 
not  play  the  harlot,  and  thou  shalt  not  be  for  an- 
other man:  so  will  I  also  be  for  thee.  For  the 
children  of  Israel  shall  abide  many  days  without 
a  king,  without  a  prince,  and  without  a  sacrifice, 
and  without  an  image,  and  without  ephod  or  tera- 
phim. Afterward  shall  the  children  of  Israel  re- 
turn penitently  and  seek  the  Lord  their  God  and 
David  their  king,  and  shall  fear  the  Lord  and  his 
goodness  in  the  latter  days." 

God  told  the  prophet  to  take  a  woman,  and  love 
her  as  a  faithful  husband,  notwithstanding  her  be- 
ing an  adulteress. 


IDG 


REFUTATION  OP  THE   SERMON  OP 


Tlie  prophecy  declares  thus  much,  and  its  in- 
terpretation exactly  corresponds.  God  loved  and 
favored  Israel,  notwithstanding  their  being 
plunged  into  the  idolatry  of  the  Egyptians,  He 
gave  the  law  which  was  the  espousal;  but  they 
were  ungrateful,  and  gave  themselves  up  to  idola- 
try and  vice,  and  particularly  to  wine. 

The  prophet  says,  that  he  took  his  wife  for  fif- 
teen pieces  of  silver  and  an  homer  and  a  half  of 
barley,  and  made  a  compact  with  her  that  she 
should  continue  many  days  without  knowing  any 
other  man,  or  even  himself. 

lie  gives  the  allegory,  and  then  applies  it  by 
saying: — For  in  the  same  manner  that  this  wo- 
man would  remain  without  a  husband,  and  with- 
out a  lover,  for  penalty  of  her  past  adulteries,  the 
children  of  Israel  would  remain  many  days  with- 
out a  king  (of  the  house  of  David),  without  a 
prince  (of  the  kings  of  Israel),  without  sacrifice 
(that  is  without  the  temple),  without  a  statue 
(that  is  without  idolatr}'),  without  ephod,  name- 
ly, without  Urim  and  Thummim  (which  consti- 
tuted the  divine  oracle),  through  which  the  prince 
consulted  God,  and  without  teraphim  (that  is,  the 
oracle  of  the  heathen). 

Thus  the  type  exactly  corresponds  with  the 
event;  for  in  like  manner  as  the  prophet's  wife 
was  to  pass  many  days  without  a  husband,  and 
at  the  same  time  free  from  adultery,  so  Israel  in 
her  captivity  was  to  remain  without  sacrifice, 
without  a  temple  (indicating  the  husband),  with- 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


197 


out  an  image,  meaning  idolatry,  (which  is  adul- 
tery,) without  the  ephod  (which  is  prophecy),  and 
even  without  the  oracles  of  the  gentiles  from 
which  to  learn  future  events. 

The  prophet  farther  says,  that  when  the  period 
was  past,  in  which  the  people  of  Israel  should 
have  given  proofs  of  their  great  constancy,  and 
their  confidence  in  God,  they  would  return  to  re- 
pentance for  the  sins  they  had  committed,  and 
would  thus  obtain  the  manifest  interposition  of 
divine  providence  in  their  fiivor,  by  the  restora- 
tion of  their  temple,  and  the  reign  of  the  house 
of  David,  all  which  should  come  to  pass  in  the 
latter  days. 

This  is  the  literal  sense  of  the  prophecy. 

Kot  content  with  explaining  away  its  sense  in 
metaphors,  the  reverend  preacher  boldl}'-  alters 
the  words  of  the  text,  wishing  us  to  believe  that 
God  said,  ^^JDies  multos  expectabis  me,  et  ego  expec^ 
tabo  vos.'^  And  on  this  falsified  text  remarks, 
"When  the  Messiah  comes,  the  Jews  will  still 
wait  for  him,  and  the  Messiah  will  have  to  wait 
for  the  Jews;  and  because  the  Jews  will  not  re- 
ceive him,  they  will  remain  -without  a  king,*'  &c. 

From  what  part  of  the  prophecy,  is  it  to  be  de- 
duced that  the  Jews  would  reject  the  Messiah  ? 
and  that  because  the  Jews  would  not  receive  him, 
they  were  to  remain  without  a  king,  &c.?  Is  not 
the  punishment  of  being  without  a  king  the  pe- 
nalty for  having  committed  adultery,  that  is  to 
say,  idolatry? 


^i 


198 


REFUTATION  OP  THE  SERMON  OF 


What  the  prophet  says  is  diametrically  oppo- 
site to  what  the  preacher  has  pretended  to  infer; 
for  Hosea  affirms,  that  they  shall  bo  many  days 
without  a  king,  prince,  or  sacrifice,  and  that  af- 
terwards they  will  return  in  penitence  and  seek 
God,  and  David  their  king.  But  the  preacher  as- 
serts, that  they  are  to  remain  without  a  king,  &c., 
after  the  coming  of  the  Messiah,  in  consequence 
of  not  having  acknowledged  him;  now  from 
which  of  the  words  of  the  prophet  does  he  infer 
that  on  the  31essiah's  coming,  ho  was  to  be  re- 
jected by  the  Jews,  and  that  the  Messiah  was 
to  be  both  God  and  31an?  In  order  to  show 
clearly  the  true  source  from  which  the  preacher 
draws  these  two  conclusions,  we  must  place  in  a 
clear  light,  the  corruptions  that  he  has  introduced 
into  the  text,  on  the  strength  of  which  he  expects 
to  make  his  assertions  pass  current  with  the  Jews. 
We  will  produce  his  alleged  quotations  from  the 
prophet,  and  compare  with  the  original. 
Preacher.  Original. 

IHes  multos  expectahis        Ft  dixit  ad  eaiUj  Dies 
tne,  et  ego  expectaho  vos.    multos  sedebis  inihiy  ne 

fornicaheriSy  et  ne  sis  viro, 
et  etiam  ego  ad  te. 

Postea  revertentur  fllii 


Post   hcec  revertentur 


filii  Israel  ad  Dominum  Israel  et  querent  Domi- 
Deum  suuniy  et  ad  David  num  Deum  sumn,  et 
regem  suiim.  David  regem  suum. 

Wishing  to  make  the  prophet  appear  to  say, 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


199 


that  the  Jews  had  to  wait  for  the  Messiah,  and 
the  Messiah  for  the  Jews,  he  interpolates  a  verse, 
for  which  there  is  no  authority  in  the  sacred  text, 
''Dies  multos  expectahis  me,  et  ego  expectaho  vos;'' 
"many  days  you  will  expect  me,  and  I  shall  have 
to  expect  you,"  as  if  thereby  intimating  that  he 
came,  but  was  not  received  by  the  Jews,  for 
whom  he  is  still  patiently  waiting. 

Now  in  the  first  place,  this  verse  has  been 
forged  either  by  the  Lord  Archbishop,  or  by  the 
authors  of  the  vulgate;  for  there  is  no  such  sen- 
tence to  be  found  in  the  prophecy.     Secondly, 
did  there  even  exist  such  a  verse,  it  would 
not  allude  to  the  Messiah,  but  to  the  prophet 
himself,  since  the  former  is  not  introduced  as 
speaking  in  any  part  of  the  prophecy;  conse- 
quently, not  even  by  corrupting  the  text,  as  he 
has  done,  does   our  author  advance   his  argu- 
ment a  single  step.     The  prophecy  cannot  be 
understood  to  apply  to  Christ  in  any  manner; 
for  it  states  that  after  the  children  of  Israel  have 
been  for  many  days  without  a  king,  prince,  or 
sacrifice,  they  will  become  penitent  and  seek  God 
and  the  Messiah.    Ergo— after  Israel  remaining 
a  long  time  without  a  king,  &c.,  the  Messiah  was 
to  come.     But  when  Christ  came,  Israel  did  not 
lack  a  king,  temple,  or  sacrifice;  so  that  Christ 
could  not  be  the  Messiah  promised  in  the  pro- 
phecy. 

I  will  now  turn  to  the  corruption  in  the  other 


200 


REFUTATION  OP  THE  SERMON  OF 


verse  ^^Et  postea  revertentur  filii  Israel  ad  Bomin- 
um  Benin  suum,  et  ad  David  regem  smim"  Now 
the  original  says,  ^^Fostea  revertentur  filii  Israel  et 
querent  Bominum  Beum  s^nwiy  et  Bavid  regem  suumJ' 
The  omission  of  the  word  querent,  makes  the  text 
read  as  if  the  children  of  Israel  would  return  peni- 
tent  to  God,  and  to  David  their  king;  b}^  which 
the  author  imagines  that  he  has  gained  his  point 
of  showing  that  the  Messiah  is  to  be  God  and  man. 
However,  he  will  find  that  if  he  can  bring  no  bet- 
ter  proofs  in  support  of  his  doctrine  than  these, 
they  will  not  avail  him  much ;  since  in  the  original 
Hebrew,  and  in  every  Bible,  whether  in  print,  or 
in  manuscript,  we  find  iB'pni,  which  means  et  que- 
renty  and  is  so  translated  in  all  the  various  ver- 
sions which  exist  in  different  languages  and  is 
similarly  rendered  by  Pagnino,  Arius  Montanias, 
and  many  others. 

Jonathan  the  son  of  XJziel,  in  the  Targum, 
writes,  that  they  will  i-eturn  penitent;  that  they 
will  seek  their  God,  and  obey  the  Messiah,  the 
son  of  David;  consequently  he  does  not  hold  him 
to  be  God.  How  wretched  must  be  the  reason- 
ing derived  from  such  fabrications!  That  he 
should  preach  them  I  am  not  surprised,  there 
being  no  one  present  who  knew  how,  or  could 
venture  to  contradict  him;  but  I  do  wonder  that 
any  one  should  have  the  audacity  to  send  them 
to  the  public  press,  regardless  of  the  disgrace 
brought  upon  those  who  appear  to  countenance 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


201 


such  corruptions  of  the  Divine  word.  It  is,  in- 
deed, grievous  and  lamentable  that  men  should 
be  found  so  blind  as  to  introduce  corruptions  into 
the  sacred  text,  and  persist  in  them,  for  their  sel- 
fish purposes,  which  amounts  to  an  act  of  treason 
against  the  Divine  Majestj^;  which  cannot  please 
even  those  persons  of  their  own  faith,  whose  un- 
derstandings are  free  to  discuss  truth,  and  who 
must  detest  the  use  of  such  means:  much  less 
will  they  convince  the  Jews,  who  are  the  deposi- 
taries of  the  Divine  word,  and  the  ark,  wherein 
the  testimony  is  preserved  pure,  clear,  and  im- 
maculate, from  which  the  learned,  even  of  the 
Christian  religion,  form  their  translations,  and 
which  they  adopt  as  their  guide,  and  appeal  to  in 
all  cases  of  doubt. 

I^XX. — The  preacher  produces  the  prophecy 
of  Malachi,  chap.  i.  ver.  10  and  11.  "I  have  no 
pleasure  in  you,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  neither 
will  I  accept  an  offering  at  your  hand;  for  from 
the  rising  of  the  sun  even  unto  the  going  down 
of  the  same,  my  name  is  great  among  the  gen- 
tiles, and  in  every  place  incense  is  offered  to  my 
name,  and  a  pure  offering;  for  my  name  is  great 
among  the  heathen,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts." 

The  reverend  preacher  supposes  that  the  pro- 
phet speaks  of  the  time  of  Christ,  and  thence  de- 
duces that  God  had  destroyed  the  nation,  and 
the  sacrifices,  and  pretends  to  prove  that  He  had 
created  a  new  and  pure  sacrifice  in  its  stead,  one 
S 


I 


i 


202 


REFUTATION  OF  THE   SERMON  OP 


who  sacrificed  himself  for  the  whole  world,  and 
by  whose  means  the  name  of  God  has  hecome 
great  throughout  the  globe;  and  that  the  prophet 
alludes  to  him  when  he  says,  "For  from  the  ris- 
ing of  the  sun  to  the  going  down  thereof,  my 
name  is  great  among  the  gentiles,  and  in  every 
place  incense  and  pure  gifts  are  offered  to  my 
name/' 

His  great  argument  against  the  Jews,  and  on 
which  he  founds  his  exposition,  consists  in  this, 
that  at  the  time  of  the  prophet  there  was  no  na- 
tion that  offered  sacrifice  to  God;  and  therefore, 
of  necessity,  he  must  be  speaking  of  the  time  of 
Christ,  to  whose  name,  throughout  the  four  quar- 
ters of  the  globe,  a  pure  sacrifice  was  offered. 

To  reply  to  this  would-be  formidable  argument, 
it  is  proper  to  remark  that  Malachi  was  the  last 
of  all  the  prophets,  and  entered  upon  his  mission 
in  the  early  days  of  the  Second  Temple,  when 
the  priesthood  were  grossly  ignorant  of  their 
duties,  as  we  perceive  from  the  prophet  Ilaggai, 
his  contemporary,  chapter  ii.  verses  12  and  13 ; 
for,  on  his  asking  them  a  question  relative  to 
their  office,  their  ignorance  was  made  manifest 
by  the  nature  of  their  reply;  nor  is  it  to  be  won- 
dered at  that  having  been  seventy  years  out  of 
the  ministry,  they  had  forgotten  the  theory  as 
well  as  the  practice.  In  addition  to  their  general 
state  of  ignorance,  the  people  became  infected  by 
the  example  of  the  surrounding  nations,  and,  like 


X 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


203 


them,  were  wanting  in  the  true  feeling  of  devo- 
tion; and  when  they  offered  sacrifice  to  God,  they 
sought  for  some  animal  which  was  lame  or  blind, 
or  which  they  had  stolen,  to  avoid  giving  of 
their  own;  and  set  so  little  value  upon  their  burnt 
offerings  and  sacrifices,  that  they  thought  the 
worst  subjects  they  could  find  were  good  enough 
for  the  altar.  This  occurred  among  the  lower 
orders.  The  priests,  who,  as  being  nearest  to  God, 
we  might  have  expected  would  reprove  the  peo- 
ple, and  clearly  show  them  their  errors,  were  the 
very  persons  who  encouraged  and  promoted  this 
sin,  by  speaking  irreverently  of  the  holy  altar, 
complaining  of  their  labor,  and  neglecting  their 
sacred  duties.  By  this  reprehensible  conduct 
they  destroyed  all  devotion  among  the  people, 
and  incurred  the  divine  wrath;  so  that,  being 
greatly  incensed  at  the  neglect  and  improper 
conduct  of  the  priests,  God  sent  to  correct  them 
through  his  holy  prophet,  recapitulating  the  lov- 
ing kindness  He  had  shown  to  the  nation  from 
the  time  of  its  origin  in  the  patriarch  Jacob. — 
Thus,  this  prophecy  commences  by  setting  be- 
fore them  the  love  which  lie  had  promised  them, 
as  contrasted  with  the  fate  of  Esau,  Jacob's  own 
brother,  whom  God  had  deprived  of  his  condi- 
tion and  kingdom,  and  converted  his  verdant 
and  fertile  land  into  a  fearful  desert,  which  was 
to  continue  waste  forever, — so  that  he  would 
never  succeed,  whatever    exertions   he  might 


J' 


/ 


204 


KEFUTATION  OF  THE  SERMON   OP 


mako  to  re-establish  himself  and  rebuild  his 
ruined  cities;  for  all  that  he  might  build  God 
would  pull  down,  because  his  wickedness  and 
sins  had  made  him  the  object  of  divine  wrath, 
and  that,  as  such,  he  should  be  known  and  called 
among  the  nations;  but  that,  on  the  other  hand, 
He  would  establish  Israel,  and  restore  him  to  his 
original  condition. 

After  enumerating  the  favors  which  Ho  had 
bestowed  on  them,  and  continued  to  bestow.  He 
goes  on  to  relate  the  ingratitude  with  which  they 
repaid  these  benefits,  both  people  and  priests; 
the  former  in  bringing  what  was  most  vile  and 
despicable  for  their  sacrifices;  the  latter  by  offer- 
ing such  sacrifices  and  neglecting  the  divine  min- 
istry, for  which  reason  He  says,  *'I  have  no  plea- 
sure in  you,  nor  are  your  offerings  acceptable 
from  your  hands."  Uj)on  this  the  preacher  puts 
the  question,  what  sacrifice  it  was  which  the  na- 
tions sacrificed  in  the  time  of  the  prophets,  that 
was  acceptable  to  God,  as  pure  and  clean,  and 
who  it  was  that  caused  the  name  of  God  to  bo 
promulgated  and  proclaimed  throughout  the 
world,  from  where  the  sun  rises  to  where  it  sets, 
since  God  himself  has  declared  that  His  name 
was  great  among  the  nations:  from  this  inquiry 
our  author  concludes,  that  the  circumstances 
could  not  have  referred  to  the  prophet's  own 
time,  for  at  that  period  the  gentiles  had  no  know- 


i^/ 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OP  CRANGANOR. 


205 


ledge  of  a  First  Cause,  and  that  consequently  ho 
must  allude  to  the  time  of  Christ. 

It  w^ould  be  easy  to  answ^er  the  preacher,  and 
overturn  his  objections,  by  the  authority  of  the 
Targum  of  Jonathan,  the  son  of  Uziel,  who  ex- 
plains these  gifts  and  pure  offerings  to  mean  the 
prayers  of  the  Jews  in  all  countries. 

Jonathan  writes  thus :  "  From  the  place  were 
the  sun  rises  unto  the  place  where  it  sets,  great 
is  my  name  among  the  nations,  and  at  all  times 
that  you  shall  perform  my  will,  I  will  receive 
your  prayers,  and  my  great  name  shall  be  sanc- 
tified by  your  means,  and  your  prayers  shall  be 
^as  pure  sacrifice  before  me." 

Thus  this  sago  understands  that  the  sacrifices 
alluded  to,  mean  the  orisons  of  the  Jews,  and 
these  he  calls  pure  sacrifice,  sxjid  (in  the  opinion 
of  this  author)  the  Jews  are  the  persons  who 
sanctify  the  great  name  of  God  among  the  na- 
tions. Besting  upon  his  sanction,  I  might  claim 
the  victory  over  my  antagonist,  were  I  as  little 
scrupulous  as  himself;  but,  although  Jonathan  is 
a  writer  of  no  mean  authority,  and  deservedly 
held  in  high  estimation,  that  is  not  sufficient  to 
oblige  us  to  admit  his  allegory,  and  make  us 
abandon  the  literal  sense  of  the  text;  therefore, 
I  contend,  in  opposition  to  his  opinion,  that  the 
prophecy  refers  literally  to  the  gentiles,  and  not 
to  the  Jews;  this  is  in  accordance  with  the  views 
of  the  majority  of  the  commentators  upon  tho 

6* 


/ 


/ 


/ 


206 


REFUTATION  OF  THE  SERMON  OP 


r 


passage,  who  understood  the  prophet  to  mean, 
that  the  Divine  Majesty  reproaches  the  Jewish 
people  and  their  priests  for  the  contempt  they 
evince  in  the  sacrifices;  adding,  that  lie  esteems 
the  ofl'ering  of  the  gentiles  more  than  the  obla- 
tions of  the  Jews;  for,  although  the  former  were 
idolators,  they  had  a  knowledge  of  and  adored  a 
First  Cause,  as  existing  prior  to  all  things,  and 
Him  they  held  to  be  from  all  eternity,  although 
at  the  same  time  they  admitted  the  existence  of 
secondary  causes.  These  gentiles,  when  they 
brought  their  sacrifices,  notwithstanding  they 
were  offered  up  to  idols,  took  peculiar  care  that 
they  should  be  of  the  most  perfect  and  pure  kind 
that  could  be  procured,  while  the  Jews,  although 
sacrificing  to  the  true  God,  brought  the  worst 
they  could  find;  for  which  reason  God  says,  that 
the  sacrifice  of  the  gentiles  was  more  pure  than 
that  of  the  Jews. 

Let  us  examine  into  the  true  spirit  of  the  pro- 
phecy, and  we  shall  see  how  the  good  archbishop 
corrupts  and  perverts  its  meaning,  to  make  it 
indicate  the  contrary  of  what  it  actually  ex- 
presses. The  prophecy  consists  in  rebuking  and 
reprimanding  the  people  for  the  little  respect 
with  which  they  treated  the  sacrifices,  reproach- 
ing them,  that  those  which  the  gentiles  (although 
idolators)  presented  were  pure  and  immaculate, 
but  that  they  selected  the  most  worthless  for  their 
offerings;  and  concludes,  in  chapter  iii.,  that  after 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


207 


the  advent  of  the  Messiah,  the  offerings  of  Judah 
and  Jerusalem  would  be  acceptable  to  God,  as  in 
former  daj^s  and  in  years  of  old. 

The  preacher,  to  evade  any  discussion  concern- 
ing the  mode  in  which  the  gentiles  offered  sacri- 
fices to  God  at  that  time,  boldly  affirms,  that  the 
prophet  treats  of  times  subsequent  to  the  advent 
of  the  Messiah,  whom,  because  the  Jews  would 
not  receive  as  the  true  Messiah,  they  and  their 
sacrifices  would  be  no  longer  accef)table  to  God ; 
but,  in  lieu  thereof.  He  would  accept  the  sacri- 
fice of  the  mass,  which  he  calls  pure  and  imma- 
culate, offered  up  from  the  place  where  the  sun 
rises  unto  where  it  sets,  by  the  converted  gen- 
tiles. He  bases  his  exposition  on  a  few  isolated 
passages,  irrespective  of  their  connection  with 
the  context,  which  he  takes  care  to  suppress  in 
all  such  places  as  would  militate  against  his  own 
views  of  the  prophecy.  But  how  can  he  attempt 
to  argue  that  circumstances,  which  were  to  oc- 
cur four  or  five  hundred  years  later,  could  serve 
as  an  example  or  comparison  to  the  Jews  of  that 
day  ?  The  prophet  says,  at  that  time  the  name 
of  God  was  great  and  renowned  among  the  na- 
tions, and  that  the  gentiles  then  sacrificed  to  the 
Eternal  Cause,  and  burnt  incense,  and  presented 
to  Him  a  pure  offering:  now,  the  preacher  will 
not  admit  of  this,  until  five  hundred  years  after- 
wards. It  must  be  noticed  that  he  does  not  say, 
that  the  gifts  and  offerings  of  the  gentiles  were 


/ 


208 


REFUTATION  OP  TUE  SERMON  OF 


I 


pleasing  to  God,  but  merely  that  their  sacrifices 
were  pure;  not  that  God  accepted  and  valued 
them,  but  only  that  they  were  consecrated  to 
God;  and  affirms,  that  after  the  advent  of  the 
Messiah,  the  offerings  of  Judah  and  Jerusalem 
•will  be  as^ain  acceptable  to  God;  consequently, 
that  God  would  not  destroy  the  Jews,  nor  re- 
ject their  offerings,  but,  on  the  contrary,  would 
esteem  and  be  pleased  with  them  subsequent  to 
the  advent  of  the  Messiah.     The  offerings  of  the 
gentiles  never  were  grateful  to  Him,  nor  did  He 
value  them,  and  the  comparison  was  only  insti- 
tuted to  depreciate  the  sacrifices  that  the  Jews 
brought  in  those  days,  and  not  to  exalt  those  of 
others.  I  have  been  induced  to  present  the  whole 
of  the  prophecy,  and  to  explain  it,  in  order  to 
show  clearly,  to  all  those  who  wish  to  learn  the 
truth,   the   devices    and    corruptions    that   the 
preacher  has  made  use  of  to  maintain  his  hypo- 
thesis, and  to  let  the  impartial  reader  see  how 
little  cause  he  has  to  triumph  on  the  scale  of 
prophecy,  which  he  twists  and  corrupts,  so  as  to 
make  it  express  what  is  convenient  to  himself, 
as  "  if  there  were  no  sons  in  Israel,  as  if  he  had 
no  heir." 

It  remains  to  be  shown,  that  in  those  times 
the  gentiles  had  a  knowledge  of  the  First  Cause, 
and  that,  although  they  recognised  secondary 
causes,  they  nevertheless  made  a  wide  distinc- 
tion between  these  and  the  First  and  Eternal 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


209 


One;  and  although  it  may  not  be  necessary  to 
confirm  what  God  himself  declares  (for  indepen- 
dent of  all  human  tradition,  that  would  be  suffi- 
cient in  itself  to  settle  the  question),  still  it  may 
be  well  to  adduce   some  few  authorities  from 
Christian  and   gentile  writers   on   the   subject, 
which,  while  they  deprive  the  preacher's  argu- 
ment of  all  its  force,  will  make  the  meaning  of 
the  prophecy  appear  additionally  clear  and  in- 
telligible.   I  will  not  embarrass  my  answer  with 
a  multitude  of  quotations,  but  confine  myself  to 
such  as  come  nearest  to  the  point  in  question, 
since  my  chief  object  is  confined  to  showing  my 
own  people  what  little  cause  the  preacher  has  to 
assume  to  himself  the  victory,  from  passages 
bearing  a  sense  so  opposite  to  what  he  attempts 
to  deduce  from  them;  I  will,  therefore,  content 
myself  with  citing  only  those  which  are  most 
appropriate,  and  coincide  nearly  with  the  period 
in  which  the  prophet  lived:  any  one  wishing  to 
ascertain  the  truth  may  consult  the  originals. 

Eusebius,  in  his  work,  "De  Preparatione  Evan- 
gelii,"  says  he  had  read  in  a  book  of  Zoroaster, 
the  ancient  Persian  philosopher,  the  following 
words  :  "  God  is  the  first  of  all  incorruptible  be- 
ings, everlasting  and  inconceivable.  He  is  not 
composed  of  parts.  There  is  none  comparable  or 
equal  to  Him.  He  is  the  author  of  all  good,  to- 
tally independent,  and  the  most  exalted  of  the 
most  excellent  beings,  the  wisest  of  all  intellects, 


\ 


210 


REFUTATION  OP  THE   SERMON  OP 


^ 


the  father  of  equity,  and  propagator  of  all  good 
laws,  omniscient,  omnipotent,  and  the  original 
Framer  of  nature." 

Plutarch,  in  his  treatise  of  Isis  and  Osiris,  as- 
sures us  that  the  Magi  called  Oramazes  the  great 
God,  or  the  principle  of  light  that  produced  all 
things,  and  operates  all  in  all.  They  admitted 
of  another  god,  but  of  an  inferior  nature,  whom 
they  called  Mithras,  or  the  inferior  god,  but  did 
not  consider  him  co-eternal  with  the  supremo 
God,  but  the  first  product  of  his  power. 

Plutarch  also,  in  the  same  treatise,  speaking 
of  the  Egyptians,  assures  us,  "  that  they  held 
the  opinion,  that  as  the  sun  was  common  to  all 
the  world,  although  bearing  different  names  in 
divers  regions,  so  there  exists  only  one  Supreme 
intelligence  and  reason,  one  same  Providence 
who  governs  the  world,  although  worshipped 
under  various  names,  and  that  lie  has  deputed 
inferior  beings  to  bo  Ilis  ministers." 

Jamblicus  says,  according  to  the  Egyptians, 
the  Supreme  Chief  God  existed  in  isolated  unity 
prior  to  all  other  existences. 

The  author  of  the  **Argonautica,"  says:  "Let 
ns  first  chaunt  a  hymn  on  ancient  chaos;  as  the 
heavens,  the  seas,  and  the  earth  were  formed 
out  of  it.  Let  us  sing  praises  to  that  eternal, 
wise,  and  perfect  Love  that  reduced  this  chaos 
into  order." 

Thales,  the  Milesian,  one  of  the  seven  wise  men 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OP  CRANGANOR. 


211 


of  Greece,  who  flourished  about  six  hundred  years, 
before  Christ  (according  to  Diog.  Laert,  book  I.),' 
believed  "that  God  is  the  most  ancient  of  all  be- 
ings, the  author  of  the  universe  which  is  replete 
with  wonders,  the  mind  that  redeemed  it  from 
confusion  and  reduced  it  into  order,  that  He  has 
no  beginning  nor  end,  and  that  nothing  is  hidden 
from  Ilim,  that  there  are  none  who  can  resist  the 
force  of  destiny;  but  that  this  destiny  is  nothing 
more  than  the  immutable  reason  and  eternal 
power  of  Providence." 

Pythagoras  gives  us  an  idea  of  the  divinity  in 
the  following  words:  "There  is  but  one  only  God, 
who  is  not,  as  some  imagine,  seated  on  the  sum- 
mit  of  the  world,  and  on  the  circumference  of 
the  universe,  but  is  in  himself  all  in  all;  He  sees 
all  the  existences  which  pervade  infinite  space; 
He  is  the  sole  first  cause,  the  light  of  heaven,  the 
father  of  all;  He  creates  all  things,  orders  and 
disposes  of  all ;  He  is  the  reason,  the  life,  and 
motion  of  all  existences." 

Plato,  in  his  "Eepublica,"  says  that  "God  is 
surrounded  by  a  thick  darkness  which  no  mor- 
tal can  penetrate,  and  that,  as  an  inaccessible 
Deity,  He  ought  to  be  adored  in  silence." 

For  farther  proof  of  this  truth,  and  to  render 
it  irrefutable,  read  in  Daniel  the  idea  which  Ne- 
buchadnezzar entertained  of  one  only  God;  for 
immediately  on  Daniel's  relating  to  him  the 
dream  of  the  statue,  he  acknowledged  that  his 


R 


212 


REFUTATION  OF  THE  SERMON  OF 


God  was  the  supreme  God  of  gods;  he  does  not 
Bay  that  he  gained  from  this  dream  the  know- 
ledge of  there  being  one  God  above  all  gods,  but 
affirms  that,  by  ihe  miracle,  he  was  made  to 
know  that  the  God  whom  Daniel  adored  was  the 
true  God  of  all  ejods. 

Cyrus  saj's,  Ezra,  chapter  i.  verses  2,  3,  "  The 
Lord  God  of  heaven  has  bestowed  on  me  all  the 
kingdoms  of  the  earth,  and  has  commanded  mo 
to  erect  a  temple  in  Jerusalem,  which  is  in  Ju- 
dea;  whoever  desireth  to  be  among  you,  and 
others  of  his  own  people,  God  be  with  him;  let 
him  go  up  to  Jerusalem  and  build  the  house  of 
the  Lord  God  of  Israel :  He  is  the  God" 

The  Gibeonites  deceived  the  princes  of  the  na- 
tion, in  the  time  of  Joshua,  with  a  well  known 
stratagem,  saying,  that  they  had  come  from  a 
far  country,  occupying  six  months'  journey,  on 
learning  the  name  and  fame  of  the  miracles  of 
the  true  God ;  and  although  it  was  but  a  fraud, 
it  necessarily  must  have  appeared  credible  at  the 
time,  that  those  remote  nations  had  obtained  a 
knowledge  of  the  greatness  of  a  First  Cause;  for 
were  this  not  the  case,  the  princes  would  not 
have  been  deceived,  nor  would  the  Gibeonites 
have  dared  to  practise  a  deception  based  upon 
an  impossibility. 

God  affirms  that  the  wonders  and  signs  he  had 
wrought  in  Egypt,  were  only  for  the  purpose  of 
making  known  his  name  and  fame  throughout 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OP  CRANGANOR.  213 

the  world,  "That  my  name  may  be  declared 
throughout  the  earth."  (Exod.  chapter  ix.  verse 
6.)     It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  the  One  First 
Cause  was  publicly  acknowledged  among  all  na- 
tions and  worshipped,  although  under  different 
names.     It  is  not  strange  that  this  knowledge 
should  have  existed  among  them;  for  Nebuchad- 
nezzar had  proclaimed  at  divers  times  through- 
out his  vast  empire,  that  there  was  but  the  one 
God  of  the  heavens,  as  seen  in  Daniel,  chapter 
IV.  verse  1,  "J^ebuchadnezzar,  the  king,  to  all 
people,  nations,  and  languages  that  inhabit  the 
earth.     May  peace  be  multiplied  unto  you.     I 
deem  it  right  to  show  the  signs  and  wonders 
that  the  High  God  bath  wrought  towards  me. 
How  great  are  His  signs  and  how  powerful  His 
miracles!    His  kingdom  is  an  everlasting  king- 
dom,  and  His  dominion  will  endure  from  genera- 
tion to  generation."  And  in  chapter  iv.  verse  37, 
varying  the  expression,  he  says,  "Now  I,  Nebu- 
chadnezzar, praise,  extol,  and  glorify  the  King 
of  heaven ;  for  all  His  works  are  truth,  and  His 
ways  justice,  and  those  who  walk  in  arrogance 
He  IS  able  to  abase." 

When  Daniel  was  delivered  from  the  lions 
Kmg  Darius,  the  Mede,  ordered  the  publishing 
of  an  edict,  as  follows,  Daniel,  chapter  vi.  verse 
25-28 :  "  Then  King  Darius  wrote  to  all  people, 
nations,  and  tongues,  inhabiting  all  the  earth, 
May  peace  be  multiplied  unto  you.    I  make  a 


H 


214  REFUTATION  OF  THE  SERMON  OF 

decree,  that  in  every  region  of  my  kingdom  men 
tremble  and  fear  before  the  God  of  Daniel;  for  he 
is  the  living  God  and  established  forever,  and 
His  kingdom  shall  not  be  destroyed,  and  His  do- 
minion shall  he  unto  the  end:  He  deliveretb 
and  rescueth,  and  worketh  signs  and  wonders' 
m  heaven  and  earth,  who  hath  delivered  Daniel 
from  the  power  of  the  lions." 

Cyrus,  the  king,  ordered  that  there  should  be 
given  to  the  holy  temple,  sheep,  goats,  lambs,  salt, 
and  wine,  and  oil,  that  they  might  sacrifice  for 
the  hie  of  the  king  and  the  royal  household;  the 
edict  is  as  follows,  Ezra,  chapter  vi.  verse  9,  10 : 
"And  whatever  might  be  required,  goats,  sheep, 
or  Limbs,  for  a  burnt  offering  to  the  God  of  hea- 
ven, also  flour,  salt,  and  oil,  conformable  to  what 
the  priests  who  are  in  Jerusalem  may  ask,  shall 
be  given  daily  without  any  hindrance,  in  order 
that  they  may  offer  a  sweet  savor  to  the  God  of 
heaven,  and  pray  for  the  life  of  the  king  and  his 
sons." 

The  King  Artaxerxes  sent  considerable  pre- 
sents, and  all  other  requisites,  to  the  temple  of 
God,  as  we  see  in  Ezra,  chapter  vii.  verses  21-23. 
"And  I,  King  Artaxerxes,  do  command  all  trea- 
surers who  dwell  on  the  other  side  of  the  river, 
that  whatever  Ezra,  the  priest,  the  scribe  of  the 
Law  of  God,  may  require,  shall  be  given  unto 
him.  All  things  commanded  by  the  God  of  hea- 
ven, shall  be  promptly  done  for  the  house  of  the 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


215 


God  of  the  heavens,  that  His  anger  may  not  be 
against  the  king's  dominions  or  sons." 

From  all  these  instances,  we  may  infer  that 
the  great  name  of  God,  and  the  knowledge  of  the 
First  Cause,  had  been  proclaimed  and  dissemi- 
nated among  the  nations,  and  was  revered  and 
esteemed  from  the  place  where  "the  sun  rises 
unto  where  he  sets;"  for  the  signs  and  miracles 
which  God  had  wrought  by  the  hands  of  His  pro- 
phets and  servants,  had  been  made  public  by  the 
three  kings,  Nebuchadnezzar,  Darius,  and  Cyrus; 
and  the  Prophet  Malachi  living  very  near  those 
times  (at  the  commencement  of  the  second  tem- 
ple), it  is  no  w^onder  that  a  knowledge  of  the 
First  Cause  should  have  existed  in  the  world  in 
his  days,  and  that  the  gentiles  who  had  learned 
the  truth  should  offer  up  to  Him  incense  and  sa- 
crifice. 

To  these  the  prophet  refers,  when  he  says,— 
"That  in  all  places  they  bring  incense  and  pure 
offerings  to  my  name." 

It  having  now  been  proved,  from  both  sacred 
and  profane  history,  that  the  gentiles  contempo- 
rary with  the  prophet  Malachi  had  a  full  know- 
ledge of  the  First  Cause,  and  that  many  of  them 
offered  up  sacrifices  to  Him  and  brought  contri- 
butions  :  the  prophecy  becomes  perfectly  intelli- 
gible when  taken  with  reference  to  the  time  of 
its  promulgation;  nor  is  there  any  necessity  to 
torture  it,  as  the  preacher  has  done,  in  order  to 


t 


I 


I 


w 


216 


REFUTATION  OF  THE  SERMON  OF 


draw  inferences  contrary  to  its  obvious  and  gen- 
uine sense. 

The  preacher,  exhorting  one  of  the  prisoners 
who  was  brought  out  to  be  consigned  to  the 
flames,  addresses  him  in  these  words:  ^'Consider 
yourself  in  the  presence  of  God,  free  from  any 
other  sin  but  that  of  reverencing  the  law  of  Mo- 
ses; and  imagine  a  Christian  in  the  same  pre- 
sence, without  any  other  crime  than  the  observ- 
ance of  the  law  of  Christ.  If  God  condemned 
the  Christian  for  his  love  of  the  law,  and  saved 
the  Jew  for  his  love  of  the  same,  God  would  not 
be  just,  nor  could  any  satisfactory  reply  be  given 
to  the  reasons  the  Catholic  might  in  that  case 
allege  against  Ilis  justice.  For,  under  these  cir- 
cumstances, the  Catholic  would  reason  with  God 
in  the  following  manner: 

"<  Upright  Judge,  I  believe  in  Christ,  because 
he  possessed  all  such  signs  as  were  revealed 
through  thy  prophets,  that  thy  son  should  bring 
with  him.  I  have  done  what  Thou  command- 
edst  me  J  Thou  hast  condemned  me  for  so  doing; 
how  canst  Thou  blame  me  for  having  obeyed 
thy  commands  r  These  arguments  are  cer- 
tainly unanswerable;  consequently  it  is  impossi- 
ble that  God  should  condemn  a  Catholic  for  be- 
ing a  Christian.'' 

The  archbishop  speaks  with  as  ranch  effron- 
tery as  if  he  were  secretary  to  the  Supreme  Be- 
ing, and  as  if  what  passes  in  heaven  were  fami- 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OP  CRANGANOR. 


217 


liarly  known  to  him;  and  has  sufficient  assurance 
and  presumption  to  affirm  that  if  God  condemned 
the  Catholic  for  observing  the  law  of  Christ,  and 
saved  the  Jew  for  observing  the  law  of  Moses, 
God  would  not  be  just;  and  goes  as  far  as  to  as- 
sert, that  God  could  not  reply  satisfactorily  to 
the  arguments  the  Catholic  might  allege  against 
His  justice.  The  only  reason  adduced  for  the  Ca- 
tholic's believing  in  Christ  is,  because  ho  con- 
tained in  himself  all  the  signs  that  God  had  re- 
vealed through  His  prophets  that  were  to  accom- 
pany'' His  son. 

But,  should  God  reply  to  this  Catholic  that 
the  Divine  Majesty  never  had  a  son,  and  that  in 
Christ  those  prophecies  which  relate  to  the  true 
Messiah  were  not  literally  fulfilled;  that  none 
lead  to  considering  the  Messiah  as  a  God,  but 
always  as  a  mere  man ;  and  that,  if  he  had  im- 
partially examined  the  sacred  prophecies,  these 
then  would  have  instructed  him  in  the  truth; 
and  farther,  if  God  should  condescend  to  com- 
mand him  to  consult  them,  in  order  to  perceive 
how  greatly  he  had  erred  in  his  conception,  what 
could  the  Catholic  reply?    That  God  was  unjust 
in  condemning  him  for  having  taken  no  means 
to  remove  his  own  blindness,  for  having  confided 
in  his  own  ignorance,  and  having  believed  from 
interested  motives,  without  examining  into  what 
was  so  essential  to  his  salvation;  for  having  done 
that  which  God  had  not  commanded  or  ordained? 

T* 


218 


REFUTATION  OF  THE  SERMON  OP 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CRANGANOR. 


219 


I  have  not  such  presumption  as  to  limit  the  rea- 
sons that  God  might  present  to  the  Catholic,  in 
order  to  force  upon  him  conviction;  for  the  Deity 
can  produce  others  incomparably  more  efficacious 
than  my  feeble  human  reason  can  devise :  how- 
ever, I  will  only  contend  that  the  arguments  I 
have  alleged  are  sufficient  to  confute  the  arch- 
bishop's presumption,  I  will  not  say  in  the  pre- 
sence of  the  Divine  Being,  but  certainly  before 
any  human  tribunal.  And  if  I  had  to  give  an  ac- 
count of  myself  in  the  manner  the  preacher  de- 
scribes, and  in  that  character  to  exculpate  my- 
self from  no  worse  charge  than  that  of  having 
professed  the  law  of  Moses,  I  should  do  it  in  this 
form : 

"O  Lord  God,  I  prostrate  myself  before  thy  Di- 
vine presence  on  my  knees,  to  render  an  account 
of  the  religion  1  professed  in  my  former  life,  and 
the  reasons  that  guided  me.  Lord,  I  was  born 
of  Jewish  parents,  was  instructed  in  the  law  of 
Moses,  which  I  accepted,  upon  the  authority  of 
my  teachers,  until  I  attained  to  years  of  discre- 
tion, when,  by  reading  books  of  controversy,  I 
was  incited  to  examine,  with  all  the  accuracy  of 
which  my  intellect  was  capable,  the  reasons  al- 
leged by  either  party;  and  having  balanced  them^ 
unprejudiced  by  my  education,  I  found  that  the 
Divine  prophecies  that  speak  of  the  Messiah  had 
not  been  fulfilled  by  any  man,  until  the  day  of 
my  death.    I  found,  O  Lord,  in  thy  holy  Law, 


the  assurance,  that  if  our  dispersion  extended 
from  one  end  of  the  world  to  the  other,  that  we 
should  again  be  gathered  together,  and  be  con- 
ducted into  the  land  of  promise,  where  Thou  wilt 
require  the  observance  of  thy  Divine  precepts. 
How  could  I  change  to  another  religion  that  de- 
stroys and  annihilates  thy  most  holy  word,  that 
opposes  thy  Divine  commandment,  that  thyself 
promulgatedst  from  Mount  Sinai,  solely  because 
there  are  some  men  who  explain  certain  of  the 
prophecies  allcgorically,  and  apply  them  to  a 
person  whom  they  call  thy  son,  and  who  have 
recourse  to  the  figurative  sense,  because  they 
feel  themselves  refuted  by  the  literal  meaning? 

"How  could  we  abandon  thy  Divine  word,  that 
we  have  heard  from  thy  most  holy  mouth,  for 
expositions  and  allegories  of  men  who  do  not 
agree  among  themselves,  who  contradict  and 
oppose  the  truth  received  from  thy  faithful  ser- 
vant Moses,  from  thy  holy  prophets,  and  from  a 
long  succession  of  sages  and  learned  men ;  who, 
through  so  many  ages,  have  written  conformably 
with  that  same  received  truth,  which  in  all  their 
writings  they  confirm,  and  have  exhorted  us  to 
the  rigid  observance  of  thy  Divine  word?  These 
I  took  for  my  guide ;  and  believing  I  was  serving 
and  worshipping  Thee  in  the  best  form  and  man- 
ner that  was  possible,  I  connected  myself  closely 
with  that  religion,  which  1  believed  to  be  the  only 
one  revealed,  and  which  I  recognised  for  thy  true 


>  1 


i"»\ 


ii 


i 


i 


220 


REPUTATION  OP  THE  SERMON   OF 


and  eternal  word.  I  have  lived  a  Jew,  and  died  a 
Jew,  and  in  so  doing  believe  1  have  served  Thee 
as  Thou  hast  commanded,  and  am  now  before 
thy  Divine  mercy,  that  Thou  maj-est  order  to  be 
done  unto  me  as  shall  seem  good  in  thy  sight,  and 
with  the  humble  persuasion  that  I  have  acted  in 
obedience  to  thy  commandments." 

And  after  sentence  has  been  passed  on  me  ac- 
cording to  His  will,  I  shall  then  discover  whe- 
ther judgment  is  given  in  heaven  accompanied 
by  the  same  forms  as  on  earth;  for,  to  confess 
the  truth,  I  am  not  so  well  informed  on  the  sub- 
ject as  the  good  archbishop,  nor  have  I  the  arro- 
gance to  ascribe  injustice  to  God,  or  to  speak  of 
Him  with  the  same  freedom;  for  there  is  no 
mocking  with  "  the  Divine  Majesty."    Job  says, 
chapter  xiii.  verse  9 :  "It  is  good  that  He  search 
you  out;  for  as  one  man  mocketh  another,  so  do 
you  mock  Him."    Kor  shall  we  Qver  presume  to 
treat  His  name  with  presumption  and  irrever- 
ence, even  by  way  of  hypothesis.    This  is  taught 
me  by  my  holy  religion,  as  Moses  says  in  Deuter- 
onomy, chapter  x.  verses  20,  21 :  "  Thou  shalt 
fear  the  Lord  thy  God;  Him  shalt  thou  serve, 
and  to  Him  shalt  thou  cleave,  and  swear  by  His 
name.   He  is  thy  praise,  and  Ho  is  thy  God,  that 
hath  done  for  thee  these  great  and  terrible  things 
which  thine  eyes  have  seen."  ^  ' 

May  He  be  pleased  in  His  Divino  mercy  to 
unveil  the  eyes  of  all  nations;  so  that  we  may 


THE  ARCHBISHOP  OP  CRANGANOR.  221 

all  worship  Him  alike,  uniting,  in  the  same  mind, 
to  call  upon  His  most  holy  name  with  one  voice, 
according  to  the  assurance  given  us  by  the  pro- 
phet Zephaniah,  chapter  iii.  verse  9 :  "  For  then 
will  I  diffuse  among  the  people  a  pure  language, 
that  they  may  invoke  the  name  of  the  Lord,* and 
serve  Him  with  one  accord." 


THE  EXD. 


i 


i-t 


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